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THE  DAWN  OF 

MODERN-  GEOGRAPHY. 


a 


THE  DAWN  OF 

MODERN  QEOG-RAPHY. 


EXPLORATION  AND  GEOGRAPHICAL  SCIENCE 

FROM  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  TO  A.D.  900, 
WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  ACHIEVEMENTS  AND 
WRITINGS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIAN,  ARAB, 

AND  CHINESE  TRAVELLERS  AND  STUDENTS. 


BY  C.  RAYMOND  BEAZLEY,  M.A.,  F.R.G.S., 


LATE  FELLOW  OF  MERTON  COLLEGE,  OXFORD; 
CORRESPONDING  MEMBER  OF  THE  LISBON  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY. 


WITH  REPRODUCTIONS  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  MAPS  OF  THE  TIME. 


JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET. 

1897. 


A HISTORY  OF 


8? 

Big 

v.l 


o 


LONDON  : 

PRINTED  BY  WILLIAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  LIMITED, 
STAMFORD  STREET  AND  CHARING  CROSS. 


PREFACE. 


This  volume  aims  at  presenting  an  account  of  geographical 
movements  in  Christendom,  and  especially  in  Latin  or 
Western  Christendom,  during  the  early  Middle  Ages  (from 
about  a.d.  300  to  about  a.d.  900) ; — to  which  has  been  added 
a summary  account  of  non-Christian  movements,  especially 
in  the  Arab  and  Chinese  dominions  and  races,  during  the 
same  period.  Every  geographical  enterprise  or  speculation 
of  importance  in  these  centuries  should  thus  come  within 
the  scope  of  this  attempt.  But,  here,  I wish  to  make  two 
disclaimers. 

First,  narrow  and  poor  (comparatively)  as  is  the  geo- 
graphical literature  of  Christendom  in  these  ages,  I cannot 
hope,  even  with  the  aid  of  the  collections  furnished  by 
the  Societe  de  V Orient  Latin,  to  have  noted  every  passage  of 
importance,  or  in  fact  to  have  done  so  vast  a. subject  more 
than  imperfect  justice.  In  non-Christian  geography  again, 
this  survey  is  professedly  selective;  and  the  Arab  and 
Chinese  movements  are  treated  as  an  appendix  to  those  of 
the  Christian  West.1 

Secondly,  I must  plead  for  a liberal  interpretation  of 
the  words  used  above,  “ every  passage  of  importance.”  Any 
one  who  is  at  all  acquainted  with  the  literature  in  question, 
must  surely  admit  that  the  true  method  of  dealing  with 
the  same  is  hard  to  find  and  harder  to  follow.  For  while  it  is 


1 See  pp.  46,  392,  393. 


VI 


PREFACE. 


best  to  aim  at  what  may  be  called  a typical  or  representa- 
tive account,  which  seeks  to  avoid  an  intolerable  repetition 
of  petty  detail,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  that  very 
dull  and  servile  repetition  of  the  same  axioms,  the  same 
fancies,  the  same  astonishing  blunders,  is  seen  a true  re- 
flection of  the  European  decadence  in  science  throughout 
this  time.  And,  above  all,  it  is  important  to  remember,  for 
such  a subject  as  this,  that  a true  view  of  history  will  not 
ignore  the  weakness,  or  the  degradation,  or  even  the  lifeless- 
ness of  the  past ; for  almost  as  much  light  may  sometimes 
be  thrown  on  the  progress  of  mankind  by  the  attentive 
examination  of  those  centuries  when  the  tide  of  life  seemed 
ebbing,  as  by  the  prospect  of  those  other  and  brighter  times, 
which,  taken  at  the  flood,  led  on  to  fortune. 

In  the  Introductory  Chapter  more  has  been  said  about 
these  and  other  general  aspects  of  the  question,  and,  at  the 
beginning  of  each  section  of  the  detailed  narrative  that 
follows,  some  attempt  has  been  made  to  connect  this  geo- 
graphical thread  of  mediaeval  history  with  others  of  more 
general  interest. 

After  the  introduction,  the  next  five  chapters  (ii.-vi.)  are 
concerned  (1)  with  the  practical  exploration  and  (2)  with 
the  geographical  study,  of  Christendom,  down  to  the  time 
when  the  Norsemen  began  to  change  the  face  of  Europe, 
circa  a.d.  300-900.  Of  these  five  chapters,  the  first  four 
(pp.  53-242)  are  taken  up  with  the  travels  of  pilgrims, 
merchants,  and  missionaries ; while  chapter  vi.  (pp.  243-391) 
describes  the  geographical  science  or  pseudo-science  of  the 
“ Lower  Empire  ” and  the  “ Dark  Ages.”  Chapter  vii.  is 
occupied  with  the  Moslem  and  Chinese  geography  of  this 
time,  which  forms  (down  to  about  a.d.  950)  so  surprising 
a contrast  to  the  contemporary  ruins  of  classical  enterprise 
and  culture  in  the  West. 


PREFACE. 


Yll 


In  all  this,  we  shall  have  especially  to  notice  many 
ideas  and  circumstances  somewhat  strange  to  us  of  the 
present  day.  On  the  one  hand  there  is  the  overwhelm- 
ing importance  of  religious  conceptions  both  in  prac- 
tical and  theoretical  geography ; the  wonderful  diffusion  of 
Christianity  through  missionary  travel  (especially  of  the 
Nestorians) ; the  part  taken  by  pilgrimage  in  exploration ; 
the  curious  survival  of  so  much  of  the  ancient  cosmical 
myth,  along  with  the  comparative  and  temporary  dis- 
appearance of  the  real  classical  science ; and  the  ambitious 
attempt  of  Cosmas  and  others  to  construct  a theological 
Universe  from  texts  of  Scripture.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  have  the  rapid,  perhaps  too  rapid,  development  of 
the  Arab  mind;  the  activity  of  the  Buddhist  propaganda, 
and  the  remarkable  inter-connection  (at  least  of  commerce) 
between  all  parts  of  Asia  at  such  an  era  as  the  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries  a.d.  All  these  features,  in  their 
different  ways,  are  full  of  suggestion,  when  viewed  by  the 
light  of  the  past  and  future  position  of  Europe. 

In  these  pages  we  have  to  do  with  the  time  when 
the  Oriental  reaction,  which  was  in  various  ways  evidenced 
by  the  triumphs  both  of  Christianity  and  of  Islam,  by 
the  revived  Persian  Empire  of  the  Sassanidse,  and  by  the 
decay  of  Greek  and  Latin  science,  was  at  its  height, 
naturally  affecting  human  history  along  the  path  of 
geography  as  along  every  other  road.  The  subject  as  a 
whole,  of  course,  points  on  to  the  crusading  time,  the 
later  Middle  Ages,  and  the  Renaissance  period  (marked 
by  the  great  maritime  discoveries),  when  Europe  gradually 
retrieved  the  position  it  had  lost,  and  entered  upon  its 
modern  life  by  the  commercial  and  colonial  expansion  of 
the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries.  But 
that  brilliant  epoch  is  parted  from  the  subject  of  this 


Vlll 


PREFACE. 


volume  by  a gulf  whose  depth  and  width  grow  steadily 
upon  any  student  of  mediaeval  life  and  thought ; and  over 
some  parts  of  our  present  period  there  hangs  an  intellectual 
gloom  like  that  which  enveloped  Caprera  and  its  hermits 
in  the  eyes  of  the  fierce  old  pagan  poet — “ Squalet  lucifugis 
insula  plena  viris.”  1 

The  illustrations  we  have  to  offer  are  principally  of  the 
maps  of  this  time.  Crude  and  curious  as  they  may  he,  they 
are  not  the  less  instructive.  For  they  are  the  only  examples 
of  map-science  that  have  survived  to  us  from  their  age.  To 
these  a few  more  or  less  plausible  attempts  at  the  recon- 
struction of  lost  map-schemes  have  been  added;  as  well 
as  a few  illustrations  of  places  or  objects  which  have  some 
connection  with  the  more  extensive  or  remarkable  travels 
of  the  time. 

Two  notes  have  also  been  added,  (1)  on  the  Manu- 
scripts, and  (2)  on  the  Editions,  of  the  principal  texts  for 
the  literature  of  the  subject ; but  it  has  not  been  possible 
to  give  (as  was  hoped)  a more  detailed  account  of  either 
in  this  volume.  Here  it  may  be  said  that,  with  certain 
exceptions,  few  texts  of  Western  literature  can  have  been 
less  thoroughly  examined.  The  manuscripts  of  several,  e.g. 
of  the  pilgrim,  narratives  have  been  very  inadequately 
collated.  Cosmas  has  not  been  edited  (independently)  since 
1765,  or  Raban  Maur  since  1626-7;  till  1885  the  Acta 
Sanctorum,  like  Gregory  of  Tours  or  Vincent  of  Beauvais, 
had  never  been  thoroughly  sifted  for  their  geographical 
material,  and  even  now  this  has  only  been  done  for  the 
earlier  Christian  centuries  by  Molinier  and  Kohler;  and 
the  allusions,  not  infrequently  found  in  works  of  professed 
scholarship,  to  authors  so  important  as  Arculf,  Dicuil, 
Massoudy,  or  Hiouen-Thsang,  to  say  nothing  of  Cosmas, 


Rutilius  Namatianus. 


PREFACE. 


IX 


often  betray  the  extreme  dimness  of  the  general  conceptions 
of  mediaeval  geography.  This  is  well  borne  out  by  the  fact 
that  no  attempt  whatever  has  yet  been  made  to  deal  with 
this  subject  as  a whole,  except  in  such  brief  summaries  and 
allusions  as  may  be  found  in  Peschel’s  Erdkunde  or  Vivien 
de  St.  Martin’s  Histoire  de  la  Geographie.  Works  such  as 
Santarem’s  great  Essai  sur  la  Cosmographie  or  Lelewel’s 
Geographie  du  Moyen  Age  (like  Konrad  Miller’s  new  Map- 
psemundi)  are  almost  exclusively  concerned  with  mediaeval 
maps. 

I have  to  acknowledge  with  many  thanks  the  kindness 
of  Mr.  J.  W.  McCrindle,  of  Edinburgh,  who  has  courteously 
allowed  me  to  see  his  forthcoming  edition  of  Cosmas  in 
manuscript,  after  this  volume  first  went  to  press.  Wherever 
I have  made  use  of  this  I have  noted  the  source  by  the 
initial  [McC.]. 

I have  also  to  thank  Lord  Ashburnham  for  permission  to 
photograph  the  Beatus  map,  once  in  the  possession  of  Libri, 
from  MS.  No.  15  at  Ashburnham  Place ; and  the  authorities 
at  the  University  Library  in  Leipsic,  at  the  Laurentian 
Library  in  Florence,  and  at  the  Coin  Department  in  the 
British  Museum,  for  the  same  privilege  in  respect  of  the 
Sallust  map,  the  Cosmas  sketches,  and  the  Merovingian 
coins  herein  reproduced. 

As  to  the  spelling  of  Arabic  and  Chinese  names,  it  may 
be  well  to  mention  that,  for  the  former,  M.  Reinaud  has  been 
usually  followed  (and  especially  the  orthography  of  his 
Abulfeda),  and,  for  the  latter,  M.  Stanislas  Julien. 

C.  R.  B. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTKODUCTORY. 

PAGE 

Outline  of  tlie  subject — Chief  eras  of  mediaeval  geography — Christian 
and  non-Christian  geography  in  the  earlier  Middle  Ages — New 
era  in  Western  history  with  Constantine — Theological  atmosphere 
of  early  Christian  geography — Slow  progress  of  mediaeval  science 
—Practical  travel  and  theoretical  study  in  our  period,  a.d.  300-900 
— Remarks  on  Byzantine  geography — Early  pilgrim  travel  from 
Latin  Christendom  to  the  Levant — Remarks  on  the  principal 
pilgrims — Missionary  and  commercial  travel  of  this  time — Geo- 
graphical science  of  the  Patristic  Age — Early  Christian  maps — 
Outline  of  early  Arabic  geography — Outline  of  Chinese  geography 
in  this  period  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  1 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OP  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM  DOWN  TO  JUSTINIAN 
(CIRC.  A.D.  300-530)  IN  DETAIL. 

Part  I.  Before  Jerome : — Alexander,  Antoninus  and  other  pre-Nicene 
devotees — St.  Helena,  mother  of  Constantine — The  Bordeaux 
pilgrim  of  a.d.  333 — Minor  pilgrims,  a.d.  340-370.  Part  II.  From 
Jerome  to  Justinian: — St.  Jerome  as  a centre  of  pilgrim  movement 
— Silvia  of  Aquitaine,  importance  of  her  journey — Paula  and 
Eustochium — The  pilgrimage  of  Paula — Minor  pilgrim  notices, 
a.d.  391-417— Melania  the  younger — Pilgrim  records  after  Jerome’s 
death — Eucherius  of  Lyons,  c.  a.d.  440 — Minor  notices  to  a.d.  523  53 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  PILGRIMS  IN  DETAIL,  CONTINUED,  PROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED. 

The  Roman  revival  of  this  age — Growth  of  pilgrim  legends — Important 
pilgrim  journeys — The  Breviary  of  Jerusalem,  c.  a.d.  530 — 
Theodosius,  c.  a.d.  530 — Difficulties  of  his  record — The  tract  “ On 
the  Route  of  the  Children  of  Israel  ” — Minor  pilgrim  notices,  a.d. 
530-570 — Allusions  in  Gregory  of  Tours — Antoninus  of  Placentia, 
c.  a.d.  570 — Wild  legends  in  Antoninus — His  extensive  travels — 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Pope  Gregory  the  Great  and  pilgrimage — The  “ Notitia  . . . Patriar- 
chatuum  ” — Lesser  pilgrim  records,  a.d.  570-000 — Storm  of  Jerusa- 
lem by  the  Persians  in  615  a.d. — The  Holy  City  surrendered  to  the 
Arabs  in  637  a.d. — The  triumph  of  Islam  an  era  in  the  history  of 
geography,  as  well  as  in  politics,  etc.  ...  ...  ...  ...  95 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PILGRIMS  IN  DETAIL,  CONTINUED,  DURING  THE  LATTER  CENTURIES  OF 
OUR  PERIOD,  CIRC.  A.D.  680-870  (900). 

All  belong  to  Anglo-Frankish  Age  and  movement — (1)  Arculf  and  his 
time,  c.  a.d.  680 — The  Western  World  in  Arculf’s  day — Arculf, 
Adamnan,  and  Bede — Arculf’s  record  illustrated  by  plans — Stages 
of  the  pilgrimage  of  Arculf — (2)  Willibald  and  his  time,  c.  a.d.  721- 
728 — The  Western  World  of  this  time — Stages  in  the  pilgrimage  of 
Willibald — His  connection  with  the  conversion  of  Germany— (3) 

Latin  pilgrims  under  the  Karlings,  c.  a.d.  750-870 — The  Western 
World  in  the  Karling  Age — Pilgrimage  of  Fidelis,  as  recorded  by 
Dicuil,  before  a.d.  767 — Charles  the  Great  and  the  holy  places — 

The  tract  “On  the  Houses  of  God  in  Jerusalem,”  c.  a.d.  808 — Pil- 
grimage of  Bernard  the  Wise,  a.d.  868,  etc. — The  Western  World  in 
• Bernard’s  day — Features  of  Bernard’s  narrative — His  mention  of 
the  holy  fire — The  pilgrimage  of  Frotmund,  c.  a.d.  870 — The  tract 
“On  the  Situation  of  Jerusalem,”  of  c.  a.d.  975  (?),  the  only  impor- 
tant record  of  tenth-century  pilgrimage  from  the  West— A natural 
stopping  place  in  geographical  history,  and  especially  in  pilgrim- 
travel,  about  a.d.  900  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  125 


CHAPTER  V. 

COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 

Part  I.  Commercial  Travel , a.d.  300-900 : —The  great  trade-routes  of 
the  Old  Empire  and  the  early  Middle  Ages — Limits  of  ancient 
enterprise — Decline  of  Roman  trade — Revived  enterprise  under 
Justinian — Attempts  at  new  trade-developments  in  South  and 
North  — Alliances  with  Abyssinians  and  Turks  — Journeys  of 
Sopater,  Cosmas,  and  Zemarchus — The  silk  trade  and  its  influence 
on  travel — Importation  of  silk  manufacture  into  the  Roman  Empire 
— Sopater  in  Ceylou — Cosmas  as  a merchant  traveller  in  Africa  and 
India — Trade  of  Latin  Christendom,  a.d.  300-600 — Byzantine  com- 
merce, a.d.  600-900 — Latin  trade  enterprise,  in  France,  Germany, 
Britain,  Italy,  etc.,  a.d.  600-900.  Part.  II.  Missionary  Travel : — 
In  Abyssinian  channel — Conquests  of  Abyssinian  Christianity 
before  Mohammed — Nestorian  mission  travel,  in  Central  Asia, 
India,  China,  etc. — The  inscription  of  Singanfu — Decline  of 
Nestorian  enterprise — Distribution  of  Nestorian  Mission  Sees — 
Mission  travels  of  Ulphilas  — Irish  mission  travel  — Patrick, 


CONTENTS. 


Xlll 


PAGE 

Columba,  Columban,  Gall,  Virgil,  etc. — Discovery  of  Iceland,  the 
Faroes,  etc.,  by  Irish  hermits,  as  related  by  Dicuil — The  legendary 
Irish  voyages  of  St.  Brandan  and  others — Mission  travel  in 
Northern  Europe — The  great  Roman  missionaries  of  the  ninth 
century  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  176 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 

The  cosmographical  science  of  the  Patristic  Age — Three  chief  schools 
in  early  Christian  geography,  their  characteristics — I.  Solinus  the 
Fabulist,  his  date,  sources,  and  peculiarities — His  special  depend- 
ence on  Pliny  and  Mela — Main  divisions  of  his  work:  (1)  the 
history  of  Rome  and  the  wonders  of  Italy;  (2)  the  marvels  of 
South-Eastern  Europe ; (3)  the  wonders  of  Scythia ; (4)  remarkable 
things  in  Northern  and  Western  Europe ; (5)  the  wonders  of  Africa ; 

(6)  the  mysteries  and  miracles  of  Asia — Notable  things  about 
certain  Islands— II.  Cosmas  the  Scientist —Patristic  parallels  to 
Cosmas — His  system  of  the  universe — Date,  sources,  and  special 
features  of  his  book,  the  “Christian  Topography” — Map  sketches 
of  Cosmas — Place  of  Cosmas  in  history — His  debt  to  his  friends — 

His  possible  Nestorianism — Contents  of  his  work — III.  The  Raven- 
nese  Geographer  and  the  statistical  school — Sources,  date,  and 
special  features  of  his  catalogues — His  relation  to  the  older  itine- 
raries, and  especially  to  the  Peutinger  Table — Authorities  quoted 
by  him — Specimens  of  his  method — Contents  of  his  work — Other 
Geographers  not  belonging  exclusively  to  any  one  of  the  three 
schools  above  noticed — IV.  Dicuil  and  his  book,  “ On  the  Measure- 
ment of  the  Earth” — Date,  sources,  and  special  features  of  this 
work— Original  narratives  of  travel  embedded  in  Dicuil — His 
account  of  intercourse  between  Charlemagne  and  Haroun-al- 
Rashid— The  body  of  Dicuil’s  work  statistical — V.  The  Minor 
Geographers  of  the  Patristic  Age— Patristic  views  in  general  of  the 
universe,  the  world,  sun,  stars,  etc. — Three  special  illustrations  of 
the  geographical  views  of  this  period:  (1)  as  to  the  earthly 
paradise;  (2)  as  to  monstrous  races;  (3)  as  to  an  earth-centre  at  ^ 
Jerusalem  or  elsewhere — The  minor  geographers  in  detail — Marti- 
anus  Capella,  c.  a.d.  300  (?) — Macrobius,  c.  a.d.  400 — St.  Basil  of 
Csesarea  in  his  “ Hexaemeron,”  c.  a.d.  370 — Severian  of  Gabala  and 
Diodorus  of  Tarsus,  a.d.  370-400 — Their  probable  connection  with 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  the  possible  source  of  most  of  Cosmas’ 
theories— Orosius,  c.  a.d.  425 — iEthicus  of  Istria  (seventh  century?) 

— Controversies  connected  with  this  work — Julius  iEthicus  the 
Cosmographer,  c.  a.d.  530 — Julius  iEthicus,  Julius  Honorius,  and 
Orosius — Vibius  Sequester  (fourth  century?) — Priscian,  Ausonius, 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  Cassiodorus,  Procopius,  Jornandes,  etc. — 

St.  Isidore  of  Seville,  c.  a.d.  600 — Armenian  geography — Bede  the 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


Venerable,  c.  a.d.  700 — Virgil  of  Salzburg,  his  peculiar  theories — 
Raban  Maur  of  Mainz  (ninth  century) — Guido  of  Ravenna  (or  of 
Pisa?)  c.  a.d.  850  — VI.  Map-science  of  this  time  — Classical 
traditions  in  map-making — References  to  lost  maps  of  Old  Empire 
— Maps  of  the  early  Christian  period,  their  extreme  rarity  and 
sketchy  character — The  Peutinger  Table,  compared  and  contrasted 
with  the  systems  of  Eratosthenes  and  of  Ptolemy — Christian 
insertions  in  the  Table — Possible  dates  of  its  various  recensions — 
The  map  sketches  of  Cosmas — The  map  of  Albi — Map  sketches  of 
minor  importance — The  lost  maps  of  this  period,  of  Beatus  and 
others 


PAGE 


243 


CHAPTER  VII. 

NON-CHRISTIAN  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Part  I.  The  Earlier  Arabic  Geography — Its  merits,  defects,  and  special 
achievements — Trade-routes  of  the  Caliphate — Influence  of  Arab 
thought  on  Christian  science — Instances — The  geography  of  the 
Koran — Influence  of  Nestorian  teachers  on  Arabs — Beginnings  of 
Arabic  science,  c.  a.d.  770 — Beginnings  of  descriptive  geography, 
c.  a.d.  800 — Legendary  character  of  much  of  this — Geography  of 
the  age  of  Almamoun,  from  Aljahedh  to  Soleyman  the  merchant — 
Journey  of  Sallam  the  Interpreter — Ibn  Vahab’s  visit  to  China — 

Abou  Zeyd  Hassan,  his  supplement  to  Soleyman — Chinese  Revolu- 
tion of  a.d.  878  indecisive  as  a check  to  Arab  enterprise — lbn 
Khordadbeh— His  important  notes  on  trade-routes— Albateny — 
Aldjayhany — Ibn  Fozlan— Russian  travels  of  the  last  named — 
Sindbad  the  Sailor — Basis  of  fact  in  the  Sindbad  Saga— The 
Sindbad  voyages  considered  in  detail— Alestakhry  and  Ibn  Haukal 
— Ibn  Haukal  on  particular  countries  and  especially  Samarcand — 
Alfaraby— Massoudy — Encyclopaedic  character  of  his  work,  “ The 
Meadows  of  Gold  ” — Instances  of  his  geographical  doctrines  and 
knowledge — Part  II.  Chinese  Geography — Buddhist  and  Chinese 
pilgrimage  compared — Early  intercourse  of  China  with  Mediter- 
ranean world,  with'  India,  and  with  the  Caliphate — Chinese 
travellers  of  our  period : (1)  Fa-Hien,  a.d.  399-414 — His  wander- 
ings in  Central  Asia  and  India,  etc. — (2)  I-TsiDg,  etc.,  a.d.  G50-700 
— (3)  Hoei-Sing  and  Sung-Yun  to  India  in  a.d.  518 — (4)  Hoei-Sin 
and  others  to  Eastern  countries  (North  America  ?),  a.d.  499,  etc. — 

(5)  Hiouen-Thsang  to  Central  Asia,  India,  etc.,  a.d.  G29-646 — 
Early  experiments  by  Chinese  in  map-making  and  the  use  of  the 
magnet — The  outlook  at  the  end  of  our  period  ...  ...  392 


Additional  Notes: — 

(1)  On  Manuscripts 

(2)  On  Editions  ... 

(3)  On  certain  minor  points 

Index  of  Names 


517 

525 

531 

533 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


TO  FACE  PAGE 

Bishop  Arculf’s  Drawing  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 

AS  IT  WAS  ABOUT  A.D.  680  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  133 

The  Church  of  the  Last  Supper,  etc. 7 on  Mount  Sion,  as  Arculf 

drew  it,  cir.  a.d.  680  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  136 

The  Round  Church  of  the  Ascension  on  Olivet,  as  Arculf  drew 
" it,  cir.  a.d.  680  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  136 

The  Church  over  Jacob’s  Well  as  in  about  a.d.  680,  according 

to  Arculf  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  136 

The  Round  World  as  represented  in  Merovingian  Coins  ( heading 

to  page)  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  176 

* Old  “Syrian”  Church  at  Caranyachirra  (after  Bishop  D.  Wilson)  213 

* The  Old  Church  of  Parur  on  the  Coast  of  Malabar  (after 

Claudius  Buchanan)  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  213 

* Exterior  of  old  “ Syrian  ” Church  at  Cotteiyam  in  Travancore 

(after  Bishop  D.  Wilson)  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  214 

Interior  of  Church  at  Cotteiyam  (after  Wilson)  ...  ...  214 

The  Christian  [Nestorian]  Inscription  at  Sin-gan-fu,  from  a 

RUBBING  BY  BARON  RICHTHOFEN  ...  ...  ...  ...  218 

The  Plans  of  Cosmas  (now  first  photographed  from  original  MS.) 

i.  The  World  and  the  Firmament  ...  ...  ...  ...  282 

ii.  The  Waters  above  and  below  the  Firmament  ...  ...  284 

iii.  The  World  and  the  Pillars  of  Heaven  ...  ...  ...  286 

iv.  The  Present  and  Antediluvian  Worlds,  with  Ocean  between  ...  288 

v.  The  Universe  according  to  Cosmas  ...  ...  ...  290 

* Old  Syrian  [Nestorian]  Churches  in  South  India,  commemorating 
Nestorian  missions  in  Far  South  of  Asia,  and  all  probably  containing  work  of 
eighth  and  ninth  centuries. 


XVI 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


TO  FACE  PAQR 

The  Plans  of  Cosmas — continued. 

vi.  The  Great  Mountain  in  the  North,  with  the  rising  and  setting 

sun  [(N.B. — Mountain  has  three  zones,  denoting  (1)  the 
Winter  Sun,  (2)  the  Sun  at  Equinoxes,  (3)  the  Summer  Sun]  292 

vii.  The  Antipodes  in  Derision  ...  ...  ...  ...  291 

The  World  of  Ordinary  Classical  Geography  (after  Reinaud)  376 
The  World  according  to  the  Ninth  [or  Tenth?]  Century  Map- 

Sketch  in  Sallust  MS.  at  Leipsic  ...  ...  ...  380 

The  Western,  Byzantine,  and  Eastern  Sections  of  the  Peutinger 

Table  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  381 

The  World-Map  of  Cosmas  (now  first  photographed  from 

original  MS.)  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  384 

The  World  according  to  the  Mappe  Monde  of  Albi  ...  ...  385 

Mappe  Monde  from  a MS.  of  the  Ninth  Century,  in  the  Library 

at  Strassburg  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  386 


The  Ashburnham  Map  of  the  Tenth  Century.  Oldest  Derivative 


SURVIVING  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  PLAN  OF  BEATUS  ...  ...  388 

The  World-System  of  the  Ravennese  Geographer  ...  ...  390 

The  World  according  to  Ibn  Haukal  (after  Reinaud)  ...  451 

The  World  according  to  Massoudy  (after  Reinaud)  ...  ...  460 

A Chinese  Magnet-Figure,  as  used  in  Ships  of  Eighth  and 

Ninth  Centuries,  a.d.  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  489 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  expansion  of  Europe  in  the  way  of  geographical 
progress  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  if  it  affected  only  that 
modern  world  which  the  fifteenth  century  saw  gradually 
evolved  out  of  the  mediaeval,  and  which  received  so  immense 
an  enlargement  from  the  discovery  of  America,  of  the  Cape 
route  to  India,  and  of  the  ocean  way  round  the  glohe. 1 
Classical  geography  has  also  received  a good  share  of 
attention,  hut  few  have  troubled  to  inquire  how  those  forces 
that  displayed  themselves  with  such  effect  in  the  lifetime 
of  Columbus  were  stored  and  matured  in  the  long  “ Middle 
Age  ” of  preparation,  or  how  the  great  successes  were  led  up 
to  by  the  futile  ventures  or  partial  triumphs  of  the  thirty 
generations  that  lay  between  the  two  periods  of  European 
^ ascendency. 

The  geographical  progress  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  of 
modern  times  is,  from  our  point  of  view,  essentially  con- 
nected with  the  extension  of  Europe  and  Christendom  into 
its  present  dominion  over  the  best  and  largest  part  of  the 
earth ; and  the  history  of  this  progress  falls  naturally  into 
two  parts — the  mediaeval  time  of  dejection  and  recovery, 

1 In  1492,  1486-98,  and  1520. 


B 


2 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


and  the  modem  age  of  consequent  success.  These  periods 
obviously  pass  into  one  another  in  the  great  forty  years  of 
discovery  between  the  rounding  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
by  Bartholomew  Diaz  in  1486,  and  Magellan’s  circum- 
navigation of  the  globe  (1520-22).  In  the  mediaeval  period, 
which  we  may  consider  as  lasting  down  to  the  aforesaid 
voyage  of  Diaz,  we  have  again  (from  the  European  outlook) 
two  main  divisions — divisions  which  may  be  conveniently 
termed  the  Dark  Ages,  and  the  Crusading  Time,  to  which  last 
the  movement  of  Norse  or  Yiking  enterprise  forms  an 
introduction.  The  former  of  these  we  have  tried  to  deal 
with  in  the  present  volume,  and  its  sub-divisions  are 
indicated  in  their  place ; but,  after  all,  these  are  unimportant, 
and,  speaking  roughly,  we  may  assume  that  the  whole  of  this 
earlier  period  of  the  Christian  Middle  Ages  is  marked  by  the 
same  leading  features;  and  among  these, religious  conceptions, 
both  in  travel  and  in  science,  are  the  most  prominent. 

There  is  in  general  during  this  time  a lack  of  geo- 
graphical enterprise  or  study  for  the  sake  of  knowledge,  of 
political  dominion,  or  even  of  commercial  gain.  The  chief 
journeys  of  these  centuries  (c.  a.d.  300-900)  are  undertaken,, 
and  the  chief  cosmographies  or  geographies  are  written  for 
religious  interests,  and  in  a religious  spirit ; but  the  result 
of  this,  as  will  be  seen,  is  not  altogether  to  the  advance- 
ment of  man’s  “ earth-knowledge.” 

The  first  of  our  mediaeval  periods,  it  is  true,  offers  com- 
paratively little  variety,  but  the  second  has  at  least  three 
clearly  marked  and  distinctive  epochs.  First  there  is  that 
of  the  Northmen ; who  begin  their  career  as  discoverers  on 
the  fringe  of  the  known  world,  and  as  the  awakeners  of 
Europe  to  a new  and  more  vigorous  life  in  the  latter  years 
of  the  ninth  century,  but  whose  more  decisive  achievements 
are  reserved  for  the  tenth  and  eleventh. 


I.] 


OUTLINE  OF  THE  SUBJECT. 


3 


Secondly,  there  is  the  age  of  the  Crusades  proper,  from 
1096  to  1270,  or,  in  a juster  view,  from  the  accession  of 
Hildebrand  as  pope  in  1073,  to  the  close  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  This  period  thus  includes  the  travels  of  Marco 
Polo,  and  is  especially  marked  by  overland  journeys. 

Thirdly,  we  have  the  time  of  transition  (from  about 
1300  to  1486),  in  which  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator,  of 
Portugal,  is  the  principal  figure,  and  maritime  exploration 
the  main  interest. 

In  each  of  these  developments,  something  is  accomplished 
towards  the  enlargement  and  the  quickening  of  European 
life.  Pilgrimage  and  missionary  travel,  trading  enterprise 
and  political  conquest, — above  all,  the  fierce,  restless,  and 
inquisitive  love  of  wandering  and  of  adventure,  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  successive  steps  of  advance.  In  the  Dark 
Age  time,  religious  and  proselytising  fervour  is  the  cause  of 
many  remarkable  and  extensive  journeys,  but  the  religious 
spirit  did  not  chronicle  these  in  a scientific  manner,  and 
religious  divisions  were  a great  obstacle  to  the  transmission 
of  new  knowledge.  How  little  did  Catholic  Christendom 
know  or  value  the  discoveries  of  Nestorian  missions  or  Arab 
travellers  in  the  Far  East,  till  its  own  interest  had  long  been 
awakened  and  its  emissaries  had  laboured  for  generations  in 
the  same  parts  of  the  world.  How  little  effect  did  Moslem 
science  produce  in  Christian  geography  till  the  latter  had 
undergone  an  intellectual  revival  from  within. 

A more  permanent  gain  for  our  European  world  was 
realised  by  the  emigration  and  expansion  of  the  Scandinavian 
peoples.  This  was  not  merely  because  their  pioneers 
penetrated  to  Greenland  and  North  America;  nor  because, 
on  the  other  side  of  Christendom  (towards  Asia),  they 
rounded  the  North  Cape,  explored  the  recesses  of  the  White 
Sea,  and  opened  up  many  districts  of  North-Eastern  Europe ; 


4 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ck 


nor  even  because  they  were  the  true  founders  of  the  Russian 
Kingdom  as  an  organized  State, — but  because  they  spread 
their  arms,  their  settlements,  and  their  race  into  every 
Christian  country.  By  so  doing  they  effected  an  essential 
revival  of  the  European  blood  and  spirit ; they  imparted  to 
well-nigh  every  one  of  the  peoples  of  Christendom  something 
of  their  own  fire;  and  thus  began  that  forward  movement 
which  the  West  seemed  to  have  abandoned  in  the  decline 
of  the  Boman  Empire,  but  which  was  now  again  as  it  were 
caught  up  by  mediaeval  Europe,  persisted  in  against  all 
discouragements,  and  carried  through  to  complete  success  in 
the  fifteenth  century  and  in  modern  times. 

Such  we  may  conceive  to  have  been  the  mission  of  the 
Vikings.  The  two  later  stages  of  European  advance,  up  to 
the  era  of  the  Great  Discoveries,  had  the  task  of  carrying 
out  into  action  some  part  of  what  the  Norse  energy  had  done 
so  much  to  render  possible,  and  of  preparing  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  rest.  In  the  crusading  age,  the  barriers 
which  Islam  had  erected  against  the  political,  and  so  against 
the  geographical,  the  commercial,  and  the  scientific  expan- 
sion of  Europe,  were  pierced  through  on  the  eastern  side ; 
and  a fuller  revelation  was  gained  of  the  treasures  of  India 
and  of  Cathay  than  the  Christian  federation  had  ever 
possessed  before.  And  as  this  knowledge  was  bound  up 
with  material  wealth ; as  the  Polos  and  their  companions  had 
discovered  afresh  those  great  prizes  of  Further  Asia,  which 
old  Rome  had  coveted  so  ardently,  but  had  never  been  able 
to  seize ; it  was  a knowledge  not  easily  forgotten. 

From  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  success  of 
the  Portuguese  on  another  road,  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth, 
Europeans  were  steadily  engaged  in  pressing  forward  upon 
the  old  land  routes,  and  getting  an  ever  larger  share  of  their 
profits. 


IJ 


THE  GREAT  DISCOVERIES. 


5 


And  however  great  the  political  exhaustion  left  by  the 
crusading  wars,  this  could  not  turn  aside  the  stubborn  per- 
severance of  the  new  commercial,  military,  and  colonizing 
ambitions  of  Europe,  or  put  out  the  light  of  its  reawakened 
science.  And  so  came  the  final  touch.  One  thing  was 
lacking  for  the  commercial  victory  of  the  West  over  its 
Eastern  rivals ; for  an  effective  military  diversion  against  the 
heavy  odds  of  Asiatic  numbers ; for  a healthy  extension  of 
the  European  race  and  its  political  organizations. 

A flank  movement  round  Africa,  if  successful,  might 
bring  all  this  to  pass.  By  such  a new  sea  route,  Europe 
would  gain  a private  way,  as  it  were,  to  the  very  source  of 
Eastern  wealth,  a way  on  which  no  competition  was  to  be 
feared;  it  would  also  take  its  old  enemies  on  their  most 
vulnerable  side  ; and  it  would  throw  open  new  lands,  possibly 
of  enormous  extent,  for  Western  settlement  or  colonization. 

It  was  precisely  this  attempt,  gradually  carried  through, 
which  was  the  special  and  decisive  achievement  of  the  later 
Middle  Ages.  Even  before  the  Portuguese  mariners  had 
arrived  at  the  solution  of  their  task,  their  progress  and 
prospects  on  the  Southern  Ocean  track  inspired  the  thought 
of  a similar  attempt  upon  the  most  hidden  riches  of  Asia  by 
the  West.  The  old  and  true  doctrine  of  the  roundness  of 
the  earth, — known  as  a respectable  tradition  to  learned  men, 
and  recognised  as  certain  by  keen  students  of  nature  in  the 
fifteenth  as  in  the  first  century  after  Christ, — combined  with 
the  success  of  African  coasting  to  bring  about  the  venture  of 
Columbus.  This  was  of  course  intended,  not  as  a quest  after 
an  unknown  continent,  but  as  an  attempt  to  reach  Cathay 
and  India  by  the  most  direct  sea  route ; and  it  largely 
resulted  from  the  discoveries  of  Henry  of  Portugal  and  his 
lieutenants  and  successors  between  the  Canaries  and  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


6 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


In  1486  Diaz  reached  the  Cape  of  Tempests ; in  1492 
Columbus  sailed  for  “ the  Indies.”  He  never  got  there,  for 
he  found  America  lying  across  his  path.  The  New  World 
thus  disclosed  left  no  interest  at  the  time  for  the  further 
prosecution  of  his  original  idea;  and  it  was  not  till  1520-22 
that  Magellan,  in  proving  the  round  world  that  Columbus 
had  assumed,  appeared  (as  his  great  predecessor  had  always 
meant  to  do)  upon  the  shores  of  the  Furthest  East  from  the 
extremity  of  the  West.  Meantime  Da  Gama’s  voyage  from 
Lisbon  to  Malabar  (1497-99)  realised  the  hopes  and  the 
prophecies  of  the  Portuguese,  Southern,  or  African  school  of 
maritime  explorers  ; and  it  was  from  the  victory  of  the  new 
European  enterprise  in  these  various  directions  that  the 
Christian  nations  were  at  last  raised  into  a position  of  pre- 
dominance throughout  the  world.  Like  men  besieging  a 
stubbornly-defended  citadel,  they  had  out-manoeuvred  their 
antagonists  by  hidden,  winding,  and  far-fetched  mines,  and 
breached  the  defences  with  sudden  and  terrible  effect.  Like 
men,  again,  attacking  one  point  of  vantage,  they  had,  while 
making  their  approaches,  found  others  not  less  worth  hold- 
ing ; for  in  pursuing  their  trade  rivalry  with  Asia,  they  had 
lighted  upon  a new  continent,  and  discovered  unexpected 
recesses  of  an  old  one,  in  which  they  might  develop  their 
energies  without  a competitor,  and  thus  call  in  the  unknown 
countries  to  “ redress  the  balance  ” of  the  known. 

These  were  perhaps  the  chief  stages,  objects,  and  results  of 
the  geographical  movements  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe 
and  Christendom.  By  the  side  of  these  we  attempt  to  give 
a sketch  of  the  non-Christian  movements  of  the  same  time, 
and  especially  of  those  which  sprang  from  the  Arab  or 
Moslem  civilisation.  The  history  of  this  Eastern  part  of 
our  subject  is  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  Western.  While 
the  thirteenth  century  saw,  in  the  land  of  the  Franks,  an 


I.]  MOSLEM  GEOGRAPHY  IN  MIDDLE  AGES.  7 

exploring  energy  develop  itself  beyond  that  of  earlier  times, 
and  apply  itself  to  new  discoveries  and  to  safer,  if  longer^ 
ways  to  the  goal  of  its  ambition, — in  Asia  it  witnessed  con- 
vulsions from  which  the  science,  trade,  and  expansive  activity 
of  the  Levant  have  never  recovered.  All  the  best  work 
of  Mohammedan  travellers  and  students  was  done  before 
the  days  of  Marco  Polo ; and  even  in  survivors  like  Aboul- 
feda  and  Ibn  Batouta  we  cannot  prolong  the  life  of  the 
higher  Mussulman  geography  beyond  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  In  this  volume  we  have  briefly  described 
the  history  of  that  geography  down  to  about  950,  when  the 
Caliphate  had  fairly  lost  its  political  power ; and  it  will  be 
easily  seen  that  these  ages  (630-950),  of  peculiar  darkness 
for  us,  were  light  indeed  to  our  chief  rivals.  The  succession 
of  Moslem  explorers  and  inquirers  does  not  cease  with  the 
weakness  and  division  of  their  Empire ; in  some  ways  their 
work  shows  an  advance : but  on  the  whole  it  may  be  called 
stationary,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Second  Christian 
Millennium.  As  it  was  in  the  political  struggle  with 
Crusading  Europe,  so  it  was  in  exploration,  and,  with  some 
exceptions,  in  science  also.  It  held  its  own,  but  it  had  lost 
its  aggressive  mood ; and  as  man  cannot  stand  still  (at  least 
outside  China),  but  must  fall  back  if  he  does  not  advance, 
so  the  Mohammedan  peoples  waited  on  events  and  subsisted 
on  their  traditions  until  they  had  allowed  their  Christian 
foes  to  get  the  start  of  them,  to  circumvent  them,  and  at 
last  to  win  from  them  many  of  their  choice  possessions  ; thus 
forcing  them  into  a secondary  place,  and  completing  the 
ruin  of  their  higher  life  or  civilisation. 

The  historical  changes  which  affect  other  races  and 
countries  produce  in  China  a more  and  more  perfect  indif- 
ference to  the  movements,  the  discoveries,  and  the  interests 
of  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  the  period  covered  by  this 


\ 


8 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


volume,  the  Land  of  Silk  tries  the  experiment  of  compara- 
tively free  intercourse  with  “ remote  barbarians ; ” but  it 
gives  up  the  uncongenial  part  as  far  as  possible,  after  the 
civil  troubles  of  878  and  following  years  ; and,  until  the 
Mongol  Conquest  of  the  thirteenth  century,  it  does  not 
repeat,  as  a nation,  the  hazardous  venture. 

The  great  rulers  of  the  House  of  Ghenghiz  and  of  Kublai 
do  indeed  bring  China  for  a time  into  the  main  stream  of 
the  world’s  history ; but  even  they  fail  to  break  up  perma- 
nently the  proud  exclusiveness  which  had  only  deepened 
since  the  time  of  Pliny ; 1 which,  gradually  severing  itself 
from  the  Tartar  over-lordship,  held  Europeans  stubbornly 
at  bay  when  at  last  they  reached  its  ports  by  the  Cape  route 
from  the  West ; and  which  still  offers  a singular  contrast  with 
that  earlier  time  in  which  the  Celestials  had  not  yet  outlived 
their  interest  in  so  many  of  the  activities  of  human  life. 

When  any  one  tries  to  gain  a hearing  for  a subject  which 
is  obscure,  apparently  uninteresting,  and  possibly  despised, 
he  is  bound  to  show  cause  for  his  intrusion.  And  the 
reason  why  the  travels  and  geographical  science  of  the  later 
Empire  and  the  darker  Middle  Ages  are  important  to  history 
cannot  easily  be  found  in  the  evidence  we  actually  possess 
of  those  travels  and  that  science.  Practical  and  theoretical 
geography  were  at  a low  ebb  between  the  conversion  of 
Pagan  Rome  and  the  Crusades ; but  they  had  in  themselves 
great  possibilities.  The  time  of  sowing  must  not  disappoint 
us  if  it  fail  to  give  a crop : in  the  age  of  the  making  of 
the  modern  nations  we  cannot  expect  the  discovering 
instinct  to  show  much  activity.  But  to  gain  anything 
like  a complete  view  of  the  development  of  European 
Christendom  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  it  is  necessary 
1 Cf.  Pliny’s  description  (H.  N.  vi.  20). 


I.]  NEW  ERA  WITH  CONVERSION  OF  EMPIRE.  9* 

to  begin  with  the  origins.  And  these  we  find,  as  far  as 
are  required  for  onr  purpose,  in  the  pilgrim-travellers  and 
convent  maps  and  religions  science  of  the  centuries  between 
Constantine  and  our  own  English  Alfred. 

Eor  the  sake  of  clearness,  it  is  perhaps  well  not  to  go 
further  back.  From  the  conversion  of  the  Empire  to  the 
sixteenth  century  the  story  of  Christendom  is  unbroken ; 
the  later  Roman  Dominion  is  the  Church-state  of  a Christian 
Prince,  as  much  as  the  France  of  St.  Louis,  the  England  of 
Henry  VII.,  the  Spain  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Mediaeval 
Europe  delighted  to  think  of  itself  as  the  old  world-state 
under  religion ; the  two  main  elements  in  our  civili- 
sation were  the  same  in  the  days  of  Constantine  and  of 
Columbus — the  classical  tradition  and  the  Christian  Church. 
And  so,  throughout  this  time,  the  expansion  of  European 
life,  in  discovery,  exploration,  and  geographical  knowledge, 
has  a continuous  history.  But  before  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine one  of  the  main  conditions  of  mediaeval  and  modern 
life  is  unfulfilled,  and  it  is  open  to  question  whether  this 
alone  does  not  constitute  a real  difference  between  ancient 
and  modern  history.  In  exploration  the  mediaeval  Christian 
world  certainly  did  not  carry  on  the  work  of  the  ancient 
without  a break ; much  of  that  work  had  been  partially 
forgotten  or  obscured  in  the  century  of  pagan  decline 
before  Diocletian ; and  in  the  break-up  of  the  fifth  and 
seventh  centuries  the  whole  matter  was  altered,  the  problem 
was  recast,  and  the  greater  part  of  what  was  known  to 
Augustus  or  to  Trajan  had  to  be  learnt  over  again.  The 
ancient  and  often  mistaken  theories  of  premature  science,  of 
reflection  which  had  outrun  observation,  were  lost  sight  of 
in  the  general  confusion,  along  with  much  of  the  ground 
really  won.  We  do  not  find  Europeans  of  the  earlier 
Middle  Ages  following  in  the  steps  of  Ptolemy — correcting- 


10 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


his  miscalculations,  or  dominated  by  his  theories.  Their 
geography  is  turned  off  upon  a different  path,  and  occupied 
with  very  different  problems ; and  it  is  not  the  lineal 
descendant  of  Greek  thought  in  the  same  way  as  Arabic 
metaphysic  is  the  lineal  descendant  of  Aristotle.  The  great 
names  of  ancient  science  have  a vague,  but  not  a very 
exact  or  penetrating,  influence  upon  Christian  geography 
and  exploration  before  the  fourteenth  century. 

In  any  account,  therefore,  of  mediaeval  travel,  at  least 
before  the  Crusades,  it  may  be  safe  to  treat  the  higher 
classical  geography  as  a deposit  rarely  used,  a legacy 
generally  forgotten,  though  realised  by  some.  From  the 
modern  point  of  view,  it  belongs  rather  to  the  literature 
than  to  the  life  of  exploration  in  its  slow  development 
between  the  collapse  of  the  old  pagan  society  and  the 
emergence  of  the  Christendom  which  replaced  that  society 
into  a universal  energy. 

It  was  with  the  conversion  of  Constantine  that  Christian 
travel,  in  pilgrimage,  really  began.  And  this  activity  was 
largely  unlike  anything  to  be  found  in  the  pagan  world 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  different  in  many  important 
respects  from  all  similar  movements  in  the  pre-Christian 
Oriental  religions,  and  in  all  those  other  forms  of  faith 
which  have  moved  in  a different  orbit  from  the  Roman 
Empire.  Only  in  the  greatest  of  the  imitations  or  adap- 
tations of  Christianity,  in  Mohammedanism,  does  Christian 
pilgrimage  find  a real  parallel.  The  journeys  of  pious 
Greeks  to  their  oracles  are  on  quite  a different  platform — 
they  went  to  get  advice,  rather  than  to  worship  relics  of  a 
divine  visit  to  their  world  or  to  awaken  a fuller  appreciation 
of  their  faith,  a fuller  insight  into  the  meaning  of  their 
sacred  writings.  The  Jewish  habit  of  going  up  to  Jerusalem 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  precursors  of  the  Christian 


I.]  PLACE  OF  PILGRIMAGE  IN  GEOGRAPHY.  11 

sentiment,  and  is  in  some  ways  a parallel  to  the  Christian 
-custom  as  settled  in  the  fourth  century.  For  the  Hebrew 
idea  of  visiting  the  capital  of  a religious  empire  is  also 
clearly  seen  in  the  travels  of  Western  Catholics  to  Rome, 
in  which  relic  worship  was  combined  with  more  practical 
reasons.  But  the  Palestine  and  other  Levantine  pilgrimages 
(like  the  Gallician  to  Compostella)  were  mainly  sentimental, 
and  accordingly  more  liable  to  decay.  As  the  practical 
interests  encroached  upon  the  ideal,  the  Eastern  pilgrimages 
became  of  less  and  less  importance;  they  were  performed 
by  a humbler  and  more  ignorant  and  superstitious  class  : in 
the  fifteenth  century  the  “ Information  for  Pilgrims  ” and 
similar  works  cater  for  the  lowest  of  the  people;  and  in 
the  sixteenth  century  the  habit  was  comparatively  rare. 
Columbus  is  rather  a late  case  of  a great  man  who  makes 
the  thought  of  pilgrimage  practically  important  in  his  life. 
Yet  the  pilgrimages  of  pure  sentiment  lasted  in  consider- 
able vigour  for  nearly  twelve  hundred  years.  They  served  as 
a powerful  motive  force,  a very  persuasive  surface  reason  for 
the  Crusades,  whose  real  causes  lay  deep  down  in  the  life  of 
the  nations  of  the  West.  And  during  six  centuries,  as  we  have 
always  to  remember,  these  religious  travels  represented  the 
most  active  enterprise  of  Latin  Christendom ; they  were 
performed,  sometimes  at  least,  by  men  with  comparatively 
enlarged  experience  and  knowledge ; they  were  evidences 
of  energy  rather  than  of  superstition  or  folly ; and  their 
literature  forms  an  eminently  suggestive  chapter  in  that 
great  mass  of  writing  which  is,  after  all,  the  expression  in 
speech,  however  incoherent,  of  the  coming  races  of  the  world, 
during  a long  period  of  their  development. 

Christian  pilgrimage,  like  Christian  preaching,  was  to 
a great  extent  a new  thing ; and  in  it  we  must  recognize,  as 
we  so  often  have  to  do  in  other  developments,  both  earlier 


12 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


and  later,  that  the  secret  of  its  strength  was  also  the  secret 
of  its  weakness.  It  was,  above  all  things,  due  to  a devo- 
tional impulse ; but  the  religious  feeling,  which  drove  men 
from  such  great  distances,  closed  their  senses  to  much  of 
human  life,  to  most  things  that  lay  not  exactly  in  the 
path  of  their  devotion,  when  they  got  so  far.  Thus  what 
they  tell  us,  of  interest  to  our  subject,  is  incidental  and, 
so  to  say,  unintentional.  The  first  pilgrims  serve  us  as 
a sufficient  type  of  all,  and  in  their  ranks  are  to  be 
found  the  most  enterprising  of  their  class.  The  amount 
of  secular  information  contained  in  their  records  is  usually 
small : they  had  great  opportunities  for  observation  and 
material  discovery,  but  they  let  them  slip  by  mostly 
unheeded  ; they  were  interested  in  a different  kind  of  learn- 
ing, and  they  did  not  relate  what  did  not  offer  food  for 
their  theological  meditation.  For  the  same  reason,  pilgrim- 
travel  is  not  progressive ; the  ninth  century  finds  us  and 
leaves  us  worse  off  for  extensive  and  systematic  religious 
journey ings  than  we  were  in  the  sixth  or  in  the  fourth  ; and 
the  value  of  these  enterprises  is  really  comparative,  and 
rests  upon  their  being  the  principal  geographical  records  of 
their  time.  Once,  therefore,  that  the  old  aggressive  in- 
stincts, of  commerce,  of  conquest,  or  of  colonisation,  are 
awakened  afresh,  and  begin  to  send  out  their  shoots,'  the 
religious  travels  lose  all  except  a theological  interest. 

So  confined,  indeed,  is  the  outlook  of  many  of  our  pilgrims, 
and  of  nearly  all  our  professed  geographers  of  the  pilgrim- 
age, that  some  may  find  an  interest  even  in  the  extent,  the 
variety,  and  the  daring  of  their  absurdities.  For  these  have 
a special  place  as  illustrating  the  mental  habits  of  the  time. 
They  help  to  show  us  how  difficult  material  progress  must 
have  been  when  such  were  the  thoughts  and  words  of  the 
travelled  and  learned  Christian;  they  throw  a good  deal 


I.]  THEOLOGICAL  CONCEPTIONS— MATERIAL  PROGRESS.  13 

of  light  on  the  growth  of  that  geographical  mythology 
which  offered  so  obstinate  and  tangled  a hindrance  to 
scientific  discovery  ; and  they  point  to  the  underlying  truth  in 
the  story  of  the  world’s  exploration.  And  that  seems  to  be, 
that  for  material  progress — of  this  kind,  as  of  others — 
material  and  not  sentimental  ambitions  are  needed.  It  is 
the  love  and  the  hope  of  material  gain,  partly  political  or 
imperial,  partly  scientific,  but  above  all  commercial,  which 
has  been  the  motive  power  of  our  geographical,  as  of  our 
industrial,  revolution.  The  secrets  of  the  present  world  have 
been  disclosed  to  those  who  lived  in  the  present ; they  have 
naturally  been  hidden  from  those  who  did  not  value  the  actual 
world  around  them.  For  the  religious  emotions,  in  their 
essence,  however  valuable  to  civilisation  in  certain  other  fields, 
such  as  art,  were  not  of  a kind  to  promote  the  exploration  of 
the  physical  universe,  either  upon  the  surface  of  our  earth,  or 
beneath  it,  or  in  the  world  of  space  outside  its  atmosphere. 
And  so  the  religious  age  of  Christian  travel  was  of  neces- 
sity unprogressive  and  unproductive.  Devotional  travel 
was  as  little  in  sympathy  with  exploration  for  the  sake 
of  knowledge,  as  the  theological  doctrines  of  a scriptural 
geography  (as  we  have  them  in  Cosmas  or  in  some  of  the 
more  elaborate  mediaeval  maps)  were  in  sympathy  with 
the  formation  of  a scientific  theory  of  the  world’s  shape, 
as  expressed  in  modern  atlases  and  treatises. 

At  the  end  of  this  long  and  difficult  chapter  of  history — 
the  early  Middle  Ages — we  come  face  to  face  with  a new 
people  and  a new  energy.  The  Northmen  supply  the  spirit 
to  the  body,  the  fire  to  the  powder.  It  is  the  impulse  given 
by  them,  as  we  have  already  suggested,  which  is  seen  in 
the  upheaval  of  the  Crusades,  when  all  Christendom  rises 
to  that  new  and  ever-increasing  activity  which  has  continued 
to  produce  fresh  results  till  now.  From  the  crusading 


14 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


movement  (we  may  repeat)  spring  the  overland  and 
commercial  explorations,  the  maritime  ventures,  and  the 
scientific  discoveries  of  the  later  Middle  Age,  of  the  now 
re-civilised  West;  from  these,  again,  result  the  plans,  the 
theories,  the  attempts  which,  in  their  success,  reveal  the 
prime  secrets  of  the  unknown.  The  age  of  our  victory  over 
nature,  or  rather  of  our  initiation  into  nature,  beginning 
with  the  unveiling  of  the  earth-surface,  is  thus  connected 
with  the  first  groping  of  our  Western  world  after  a wider 
room  and  a broader  life.  Dim  at  first  is  the  light,  staggering 
and  uncertain  are  the  steps ; false  and  deceitful  ambitions, 
disappointing  hopes,  superstitious  fears  are  ever  checking 
the  onward  course : but  from  the  time  that  pilgrimage  first 
led  to  conquest  (in  the  eleventh  century),  that  course  has 
been  steadily  onward  and  outward.  Yet  not  always  as  it 
had  been  planned.  The  Franks  came  to  smite  the  Moslem 
unbelievers,  but  they  stayed  to  trade  with  them  and  to  learn 
of  them.  The  incidental  gain  proved  to  be  even  greater 
than  the  first  object.1  The  Mohammedan  world  had  more 
to  give  to  Christendom  by  commerce  and  friendship  than 
was  to  be  won  by  stamping  out  the  worshippers  of  the  God 
of  the  Koran.  By  the  religious  wars  was  gradually  recovered 
that  secret  which  the  pre-Christian  world  had  found  out 
and  abused,  which  for  centuries  remained  inarticulate,  felt 
but  unexpressed — the  secret  that  the  religious  feeling  by 
itself  was  inadequate  for  material  prosperity,  that  the  present 
was  an  unmistakable  and  fundamental  fact,  and  that  pro- 
gress could  not  be  made  in  this  life  by  renouncing  it. 

But  this  revelation  was  not  yet.  In  the  time  with  which 
we  have  here  to  deal,  religion,  sometimes  fanatical  and 


1 So  in  Columbus’s  discovery,  the 
incidental  success — the  finding  of 
America  en  route — proved  to  be 


even  more  important  than  his  origi- 
nal aim,  the  reaching  of  India  from 
the  West,  by  the  West. 


L]  THEOLOGICAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  PILGRIM  AGE.  15 

ignorant  religion,  governs  tlie  men  who  are  representative 
of  literature  and  of  science.  So  exclusively  theological  is 
their  outlook,  that  we  are  often  in  danger  of  forgetting  that 
the  modern  world,  with  all  its  splendour  and  its  variety,  can 
be  traced  back  on  one  side  to  their  work.  Christianity,  of 
a type  very  unlike  the  present,  has  indeed  been  one  of  the 
factors  of  our  civilisation.  And  in  our  particular  subject 
we  have  especially  to  take  this  into  account.  In  ages  when 
the  only  kind  of  exploring  and  geographical  interest  was 
theological,  we  must  beware  of  ignoring  this  phase,  or  of 
treating  it  as  a symptom  of  decay  or  weakness.  We  cannot 
pass  by  the  fact  that  the  theological  interest,  in  the  hands 
of  the  Church  organisation,  mastered  that  Empire,  or  Political 
Society,  which  possessed  the  intellectual  heritage  of  Aristotle 
and  Plato,  of  Ptolemy  and  Strabo,  of  Lucretius  and  Tacitus, 
of  Cicero  and  the  Roman  jurists.  Neither  can  we  deny  that 
the  barbarians  from  beyond  the  Rhine  and  Danube  gradually 
subdued  and  settled  themselves  upon  that  same  empire, 
which  seemed  so  final.  Least  of  all  can  it  be  disputed  that 
those  conquering  barbarians,  without  doubt  the  strongest 
physical  force  in  the  Western  world,  bowed  to  the  faith 
and  the  religious  system  of  the  Empire,  and  moulded  their 
states,  and  directed  their  progress  from  barbarism  to  civilisa- 
tion, by  its  teaching.  The  Church,  therefore,  in  its  various 
expressions,  must  be  treated  with  respect  by  any  one  who 
respects  the  facts  of  life.  It  had  triumphed  over  civilised 
refinement  and  uncivilised,  or  semi-civilised,  strength.  It 
had  taken  possession  of  the  best  minds  of  the  European  races. 

So  much  may  be  allowed,  and  yet  it  may  be  said  that 
a certain  element  of  weakness  and  lowered  strength  was 
responsible  for  its  victory.  The  Roman  Empire,  in  which 
the  Church  saw  all  things  put  under  its  feet,  certainly  had 
not  the  strength  of  the  first  Caesars.  They  could  have 


16 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


repelled  the  Teutonic  invasions,  just  as  they  came  near  to 
the  conquest  of  all  Germany,  and  left  that  conquest  un- 
finished rather  from  choice  than  from  necessity.  Almost 
as  certainly,  they  could  have  stood  the  shock  of  the  Saracen 
invasions,  which,  indeed,  were  rendered  possible  by  the 
theological  phase  that  had  passed  over  the  Roman  world. 
Christianity  and  Judaism  inspired  Islam  to  be  their  own 
rival,  and  its  place  in  men’s  hearts  was  prepared  for  by 
their  work.  The  whole  appeal  of  Mohammed  would  have 
fallen  flat  upon  the  Agnostic  world  of  Augustus. 

Yet,  if  the  new  era  of  world-religions,  controlling  the 
political  and  social  life  of  nations,  was  associated  with  a 
certain  decline  of  intellectual  and  physical  vigour  among  the 
more  advanced  peoples,  it  certainly  went  along  with  a great 
increase  of  mental  activity  and  social  progress  among  the 
more  rude  and  brutal  nations.  For  both  Christendom  and 
Islam  raised  the  average  of  the  society  they  respectively 
conquered,  taken  as  a whole.  The  check  inflicted  on  the 
seventh-century  prosperity  of  Syria  and  Egypt  by  the  Arab 
invaders,  or  the  repression  exercised  by  Catholicism  on  the 
philosophy  of  Porphyry  or  the  poetry  of  Claudian,  was  not 
to  be  weighed  against  the  impulse  towards . better  things 
which  the  one  communicated  to  the  Berbers  and  the  Arabs 
themselves,  or  which  the  other  inspired  in  Germans,  English, 
and  Russians. 

Up  to  a certain  point.  For  here  comes  the  difficulty. 
In  the  face  of  the  natural  philosophy,  or  the  classical 
revival,  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  still  more  of  the  four- 
teenth,1 fifteenth,  and  sixteenth,  the  religious  spirit  in 


1 In  the  thirteenth  century  the 
Catholic  theologians  attempted,  -with 
some  success,  to  absorb  as  much  of 
the  new  and  revived  learning  as  ap- 
peared in  any  way  compatible  with 


their  inherited  dogmas.  When  this 
broke  down,  the  Church  had  only 
the  choice  of  war  with  science,  or  an 
alliance  with  it. 


I.] 


STRUGGLE  OF  SCIENCE  WITH  THEOLOGY. 


17 


Christendom,  as  in  Islam,  declared  itself,  to  a large  extent, 
obscurantist.  And  when  this  attitude  seemed  to  be  passing 
away  in  the  papacy  and  the  curia,  the  cause  of  non- 
reasoning faith  was  revived  in  the  Protestant  Reformation 
and  the  Catholic  reaction ; the  science  which  this  double 
movement  could  not  suppress  was  forced  back  into  its  old 
attitude  of  hostility ; and  religion  became  terrible  to  many 
as  the  principal  opponent  of  advancement  and  knowledge. 

In  the  case  of  Islam,  on  the  other  hand,  the  great 
“Unitarian”  religion,  as  a less  dogmatic,  intricate,  and 
systematised  faith,  without  priesthood,  or  sacraments,  or 
mystic  ritual,  except  of  a simple  kind,  seemed  for  a time 
more  fortunate.  It  found  the  conflict  with  science  much 
less  searching,  and  more  easily  evaded  or  postponed;  but 
in  the  end  the  same  struggle  loomed  before  the  future  of 
the  civilised  Caliphate,  when  further  danger  was  averted  by 
the  ruin  of  theologians  and  scientists  alike  in  a common 
doom.  On  the  one  side,  in  the  Levant,  the  utter  and  irre- 
deemable barbarism  of  the  Turks  covered  all.  Incapable 
of  any  form  of  science  or  of  art,  except  the  war-like,1  they 
spread  like  a blight  over  the  fairest  portions  of  that  field 
where  the  first  intellectual  harvest  of  the  Middle  Ages  had 
been  reaped.  On  the  other  side,  in  the  West,  the  Moslems 
of  Spain  fell  a prey  to  anarchy  within,  and  as  the  crusad- 
ing spirit  rose  higher  and  higher  in  Christendom,  the 
Emirate  of  Cordova  perished  altogether.  But  at  first,  after 
the  old  culture  and  the  old  government  of  Rome  had  been 
submerged,  there  was  no  question  whether  the  science  of  the 
time  was  to  be  friend  or  foe  of  religion.  The  theological 
forces  were  then  wholly  on  the  side  of  order,  of  peace,  and 


1 And  except  to  a certain  extent 
in  architecture,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  Mameluke  buildings  in  Cairo. 


But  it  is  only  in  a very  qualified 
sense  that  the  Mameluke  rulers  of 
Egypt  can  be  called  “ Turkish.” 


C 


18 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


of  learning  ; they  were  among  the  most  powerful  allies  of 
the  good,  and  among  the  most  influential  enemies  of  the 
bad,  tendencies  in  society.  So  it  was  largely  due  to  Church- 
men that  certain  parts  of  ancient  civilisation  were  preserved, 
and  that  the  old  political  unity  was  replaced  by  the  spiritual 
community  of  a religious  federation  which  was  constantly 
struggling  to  express  itself  in  political  forms.1 

And  in  our  particular  inquiry,  it  was  through  the 
writings  and  the  travels  of  Churchmen  that  geographical 
conceptions  were  kept  before  the  world  of  Bede,  of  Charles 
the  Great,  or  of  Gerbert.  Even  Cosmas,  though  sinning 
against  light  and  apparently  taking  a more  superstitious 
and  unnatural  view  of  the  world  than  the  “ sceptical  ” 
Christians  whom  he  denounces,  still  preserved  a good 
number  of  scientific  needles  in  the  midst  of  the  intolerable 
deal  of  hay  which  he  called  his  “ Topography.”  In  other 
and  more  barbarous  places  and  times,  writings  such  as  those 
of  Dicuil,  of  the  Kavennese  geographer,  or  of  Guido — maps 
such  as  those  of  Beatus  or  of  Albi, — are  valuable  for  their 
monopoly  of  the  subject,  if  for  nothing  else.  They  are  the 
only  teachers  of  geography  in  their  age  and  among  their 
people.  And  in  the  light  of  what  their  countrymen  after- 
wards became  — masters  of  the  world  — these  teachings, 
however  grotesque,  are  suggestive.  The  absurdities  of  Dark 
Age  map-making  are  the  precursors  of  the  first  accurate 
charts  and  of  modern  atlases ; the  creeping  ventures  of  the 
pilgrims  are  the  first  movements  of  an  ultimately  invincible 
race-expansion. 

Now,  many  of  the  monuments  of  early  Christian  travel 
have  scarcely  been  treated  yet  in  their  proper  relation  to 
progress  in  general,  or  to  the  special  kind  of  progress  they 

1 E.g.  the  Empire  of  Charles  the  I or  the  temporal  suzerainty  of  the 
Great,  or  of  the  Ottos,  the  Crusades,  | popes  oyer  Christian  kingdoms. 


I.]  SLOW  PROGRESS  OF  MEDIAEVAL  SCIENCE.  19 

illustrate,  which  is  geographical.  They  have  had,  perhaps, 
a fair  amount  of  attention  from  the  theologians  and  the 
philologists ; they  have  certainly  been  neglected  by  the 
historians.  They  have  shared  in  the  effects  of  the  vicious 
tendency  which  puts  religion  and  all  its  works  on  one  side, 
and  tries  to  isolate  them  from  ordinary  life  ; they  have  been 
relegated  to  the  theological  shelves  of  the  library.  But  just 
as  the  main  importance  of  the  writings  of  the  Christian 
apostles  and  fathers  is  in  relation  to  the  general  life  of  their 
time,  and  the  general  progress,  or  retrogression,  of  the  race, 
so  the  essential  value  of  these  Christian  travel-documents  is 
in  their  bearing  upon  the  history  of  civilisation,  then  and 
afterwards.  There  are  certain  ages  of  the  world  which  are 
quite  unintelligible  except  through  the  proper  understand- 
ing of  their  theological  literature.  Even  so  late  as  the 
Tudor  period  in  England,  not  a little  of  our  political  philo- 
sophy has  its  origin  in  works  of  divinity ; in  the  age  of 
Justinian  the  chief  geographers  and  travellers  seem  to  have 
been  priests  and  monks  of  the  Church.  An  endeavour  to 
connect  and  interrelate  the  sacred  and  the  secular  in  the 
story  of  exploration  could  hardly  fail  to  throw  an  additional, 
even  if  sometimes  a flickering,  light  on  certain  parts  of 
history. 

It  has  often  been  pointed  out  that  human  progress  is  far 
from  being  always  continuous,  and  that  its  course  is  more 
like  the  confused  movements  of  a crowd,  whose  advance  is 
only  to  be  clearly  seen  after  many  swayings  and  stoppages, 
than  the  orderly  forward  motion  of  an  army  along  a military 
road.  Early  Christian  geography  is  a good  illustration  of 
this.  For  centuries  the  new  religious  interest  seems  to 
exercise  little  or  no  effect  in  the  advancement  of  science — 
rather  the  reverse — yet,  under  the  Christian  civilisation,  was 
at  last  awakened  an  interest  both  in  practical  and  theoretical 


20 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


geography  greatly  transcending  that  of  the  pagan  world. 
We  must  therefore  look  behind  the  literature  for  the  vitalis- 
ing facts,  for  the  progress  which  certainly  was  now  being 
made  possible.  The  early  Christian  period  was,  after  all,  a 
time,  not  of  harvest,  but  of  planting.  European  life  and 
manhood  were  regenerated,  but  the  European  mind  seemed 
almost  to  lie  fallow  for  a time. 

The  growth  of  the  geographical  myth  during  this  period 
points  to  the  same  conclusion  as  the  poverty  of  results  from 
religious  travel.  In  the  course  of  these  centuries  were 
elaborated  or  popularised  most  of  those  travellers’  tales 
which  we  think  so  pleasant  in  Solinus  or  in  Mandeville,  and 
wonder  at  on  the  maps  of  St.  Sever  or  of  Hereford,  but 
which  were  a real  and  formidable  hindrance  to  enterprise. 
The  terror  and  ignorance  of  nature  that  they  reflected  was 
the  prime  cause  of  the  isolation,  poverty,  and  barbarism  of 
the  earlier  Middle  Ages.  The  imagination  of  folly  and  of 
pseudo-science  peopled  the  world  with  monsters,  curtained 
the  seas  with  impenetrable  darkness,  and  travestied  every 
known  fact  of  geography  by  an  attendant  fiction  which 
tended  to  supplant  the  original. 

Again,  in  examining  the  reasons  for  the  prolonged  back- 
wardness and  even  occasional  retrogression  of  Christendom, 
our  attention  is  recalled  to  some  particular  influences  of 
a general  anti-Christian  and  anti-European  movement,  to 
which  we  have  already  alluded.  First,  the  Spanish  Caliphate 
cut  off  all  access  to  the  Western  sea  beyond  the  Bay  of 
Biscay,  from  the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  centuries ; similarly 
the  communication  of  Christendom  with  the  far  East  and 
South  — with  Abyssinia,  or  India,  or  China — was  fatally 
interrupted  by  the  intrusion  of  the  new  rulers  of  the  Levant 
and  of  North  Africa.  The  geographical  outlook  of  Christian 
Europe  was  thus  materially  contracted.  And  as  Moslem 


I.]  CHIEF  DIVISIONS  OF  DARK-AGE  GEOGRAPHY.  21 

traders  and  pirates  shut  up  or  abstracted  Western  commerce, 
so  Moslem  schools  stole  away  some  of  the  ablest  of  Western 
thinkers,  till  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  the  triumph 
of  the  Prophet’s  followers  in  every  art  of  life,  in  every 
comfort,  in  every  science,  over  their  older  rivals  seemed 
complete. 

The  materials  for  the  subject  in  hand  may  be  divided 
under  three  heads : first,  the  writings  of  travellers,  almost 
without  exception  pilgrim-travellers  ; secondly,  the  scattered 
notices  of  missionary  or  commercial  enterprise ; lastly,  the 
writings  of  geographical  theorists,  of  untravelled  students, 
who  are  equally,  as  a rule,  theologians ; with  these  may 
also  be  reckoned  the  maps  of  draughtsmen  who  tried  to 
illustrate  Scripture  or  Divinity  of  some  kind  by  a picture 
of  the  w7orld,  and  a few  compilations  of  marvels  from  the 
late  pagan  period  which  were  fortunate  enough  to  gain 
an  enthusiastic  acceptance  from  the  Christian  world.  The 
pilgrim-travellers  last  for  our  purpose  up  to  the  time  of 
the  extinction  of  the  Frankish  Empire  on  the  continent, 
and  the  reign  of  Alfred  in  Wessex.  In  other  words,  it  is 
only  during  the  first  nine  centuries  of  the  Christian  era, 
or,  more  exactly,  from  the  opening  of  the  fourth  to  the 
close  of  the  ninth,  that  the  work  of  exploration,  such  as 
it  is,  falls  to  their  share.  And  in  this  time,  we  may  find,  if 
we  look  a little  more  closely,  that  the  more  important 
of  our  pilgrim-records  fall  into  certain  groups,  and  are 
associated  with  certain  prominent  persons  and  events.  Thus 
we  have  the  travellers  of  the  first  period  grouped,  as  it 
w7ere,  round  the  work  of  the  Emperor  Constantine  and  his 
mother  Helena  in  Palestine ; those  of  the  second  age,  around 
Jerome  in  Bethlehem  or  in  Home ; those  of  the  third,  round 
the  Imperial  and  Catholic  Majesty  of  Justinian,  whose  build- 
ings in  Jerusalem,  like  those  of  Constantine,  mark  an  epoch 


22 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


iii  the  topography  of  the  Holy  City.  Lastly,  the  leading 
pilgrims  of  the  fourth  age,  as  we  may  call  it,  though  more 
scattered,  are  nearly  all  associated  with  the  conversion  of 
the  Franks  or  the  English,  and  with  the  joint  movement 
of  the  two  great  races  for  the  further  conversion  of  heathen 
Germany. 

Again,  in  the  history  of  pilgrim-travel,  we  have  to 
deal  with  two  main  classes  of  records,  those  made  by  the 
travellers  themselves,  and  those  contained  in  the  writings 
of  others,  such  as  Gregory  of  Tours,  who  allude  to  or 
describe  in  some  detail  the  journeys  of  pilgrims  who  have 
or  have  not  left  any  account  of  themselves.  With  a very 
few  exceptions,  the  former  class  holds  all  that  is  important 
for  ns.  As  to  the  merely  allusive  notices,  even  the  more 
valuable  of  these  are  generally  so  vague,  as  in  Gregory’s 
accounts  of  travellers  to  India  from  the  West,  that  little 
can  be  gathered  from  them. 

The  case  of  Cosmas,  " the  man  who  sailed  to  India,” 
presents  an  especial  difficulty.  He  is  more  known  as  a 
theorist  who  set  himself  to  disprove  the  roundness  of  the 
earth,  but  he  is  also  a practical  explorer,  of  an  unusually 
ambitious  type.  He  journeyed  to  Malabar  and  Ceylon,  it 
would  appear,  from  the  head  of  the  Eed  Sea,  and  returned 
to  Egypt,  probably  visiting  Palestine  as  well,  before  he 
left  his  old  profession  of  a trader,  settled  down  in  his 
monastery,  and  wrote  his  “ Topography.”  Preposterous  as  a 
philosopher,  he  was  no  contemptible  observer ; and  his  book 
has  a place  of  its  own,  standing  as  it  does  by  the  side  of 
contemporary  works  such  as  those  of  Procopius  and  Gregory 
of  Tours,  and  partaking  both  of  the  reason  of  the  one  and  of 
the  credulity  of  the  other.  And  the  case  of  Cosmas  is  an 
exception  which  justifies  a rule.  It  may  be  said,  speaking 
broadly,  that  the  only  travel  which  need  be  attended  to,  in 


I.]  BYZANTINE  GEOGRAPHY  AND  CIVILISATION.  23 

those  centuries  which  coincide  with  the  first  six  hundred  years 
of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  is  Latin,  is  from  the  lands  west 
of  the  Adriatic,  from  the  Christendom  which  is  conveniently 
called  Roman.  The  Byzantine  provinces,  it  is  true,  carry  on 
a not  inconsiderable  trade  with  the  further  East,  though  this 
is  of  ever-decreasing  importance  and  extent  from  the  time 
of  Justinian ; but  they  show  no  discovering  spirit,  except 
what  we  may  find  better  represented  in  Britain,  Gaul,  Italy 
or  Spain.  The  Byzantine  influence  on  Western  or  Latin 
Europe  was  surprisingly  slight,  from  the  days  of  Heraclius 
to  the  Crusades,  and  as  its  power  waned  within  its  more 
immediate  surroundings  it  was  not  natural  that  it  should 
exercise  a very  stimulating  effect  in  distant  lands  that  had 
practically  renounced  its  authority  long  before  they  formally 
did  so.  The  importance  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  in  checking 
the  progress  of  the  Saracens1  at  their  most  dangerous  period, 
cannot  easily  be  overrated.  It  saved  Europe  from  the 
Asiatic  deluge  at  a time  when  resistance  to  such  a double 
attack  as  was  then  in  progress  (through  the  Taurus  as  well 
as  through  the  Pyrenees)  could  hardly  have  been  successful ; 
but,  after  all,  the  place  of  the  Byzantine  civilisation  in  history 
was  rather  passive  than  active,  and  its  travel  enterprise  has 
but  little  to  do  with  the  rest  of  Christendom. 

What  slight  proof  do  our  Latin  travellers  give  us  of  any 
overshadowing  influence  of  the  Byzantine  world  on  the  West 
they  came  from.  Though  Arculf  and  Willibald,  for  example, 
both  have  a good  deal  to  tell  us  about  the  Constantinople 
of  their  day,  and  allude  to  it  as  the  greatest  city,  and  the 
“ metropolis  ” of  the  whole  Roman  Empire,  they  seem  little 
touched  by  its  spirit.  The  whole  literature  of  our  Latin 
geography  in  the  Dark  Ages  is  inconsistent  with  any  deep 
knowledge  of  the  Greek  Christendom  whose  very  language 

1 As  well  as  of  barbarians,  like  the  Avars. 


24 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


was  becoming  forgotten  in  the  West.  When  the  Roman 
Church  carries  out  the  religious  exploration  of  central 
Europe  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  it  is  allowed  to 
push  its  conquests  within  the  limits  of  the  original  Eastern 
Empire  and  even  to  dispute  with  St.  Sophia  for  the  allegiance 
of  Bulgaria,  which,  if  once  given,  in  spirituals,  to  the  Lateran, 
would  not  be  easily  rendered,  in  temporals,  to  the  palace  on 
the  Bosphorus.  The  Greek  missionaries,1  whose  travels  into 
Moravia  are  of  some  interest  to  our  subject,  went  in  the 
service  of  the  Old  Rome  and  not  of  the  New ; in  the  same 
way  Hungary  and  all  the  North  Danube  tracts  became 
adherents  to  the  faith  of  the  more  distant  power,  which  by 
the  winning  of  Scandinavia  completed  its  religious  explora- 
tion of  unknown  Europe.  Only  in  the  case  of  Russia  did 
Byzantine  orthodoxy  show  any  expansive  force,  and  this, 
a success  of  the  eleventh  century,  was  rather  due  to  dynastic 
ambitions  and  Norse  adaptability  than  to  Greek  missionary 
zeal.2  As  time  went  on,  the  superior  energy  of  Latin 
Catholicism  was  seen  in  its  conquests,  though  temporary,  of 
Syria  and  of  Constantinople  itself,  as  well  as  of  so  many 
islands  and  outlying  points  of  the  Levant.  East  and  West 
were  really  severed  long  before  the  dogmatic  schism  of  the 
Churches,  and  it  is  not,  after  all,  of  great  moment  whether  or 
no  Byzantine  merchants  at  certain  times  travelled  to  India 
or  to  the  Wall  of  China  or  penetrated  into  Abyssinia,  unless 
they  handed  on  their  work  to  successors  or  influenced  a more 
persistent  and  virile  race  than  their  own.  As  a rule — Cosmas 
is  a partial  exception — they  did  not  do  this ; their  labours 
were  so  far  from  permanent  that  they  were  on  the  contrary 
continually  receding,  and  we  must  not  overrate  the  import- 
ance of  such  an  unfruitful  and  disappointing  “ expansion.” 

1 Especially  Cyril  and  Methodius.  I next  period — the  Viking  Age. 

2 This  happens  well  within  our  I 


IJ  SKETCH  OF  EARLY  PILGRIM-TRAVEL.  25 

I.  Before  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  Christian  pil- 
grimage is  just  existent,  and  that  is  all ; before  the  close  of 
the  Diocletian  persecution,  the  number  of  credible  journeys 
of  this  sort,  from  the  West  to  the  Levant,  may  be  counted 
on  the  fingers  of  one  hand — the  two  Placentian  travellers 
of  a.d.  303-4 — John  and  Antonine  the  Elder — are  perhaps 
the  chief  of  these ; and  their  travels  include  Sinai  as  well 
as  Jerusalem. 

But  the  example  set  by  the  empress-mother,  Helena, 
and  the  buildings  erected  by  the  bounty  of  Constantine  and 
her  own  piety,  in  the  holiest  sites  of  Palestine,  coupled A 
with  her  discovery  of  the  true  cross,  was  the  beginning 
of  a new  age.  Her  pilgrimage  seems  to  have  been  inde- 
pendent of  any  expectation  of  such  discovery.  She  sought 
out  Jerusalem,  Rufinus  tells  us,  and  inquired  the  spot — not 
where  the  cross  was  to  be  found, — but  only  “ where  the 
body  of  Christ  was  fixed  to  the  tree.”  The  search,  it  is 
admitted,  was  difficult ; and  this  proves  that  to  earlier  pil- 
grims there  could  not  have  been  available  that  exact  cult 
of  particular  sites  which  became  established  from  the  time 
of  Helena’s  “inventions.”  From  a.d.  136,  when  the  last 
revolt  of  the  Jews  under  Bar-Cochab  was  suppressed,  Jeru- 
salem had  been  forbidden  ground  to  the  Hebrew  race,  and 
the  city  of  the  famous  Semitic  priests  and  kings  had  become 
the  Roman  garrison  town  of  iElia  Capitolina.  A statue  of 
Yenus,  too,  in  one  tradition,  had  been  erected  over  the 
site  of  the  Crucifixion  by  the  persecutors  of  the  Church. 

What  Helena  really  discovered  it  is  impossible  now  to 
determine ; all  that  concerns  us  here  is  that  with  her  visit 
Christian  pilgrim-travel  really  begins.  Yet  we  may /notice 
how  greatly  the  original  story  is  amplified  by  later  writers. 
To  the  simple  statement  that  she  discovered  the  sign  of  the 
cross  at  Jerusalem,  Rufinus  adds  the  healing  of  the  sick 


26 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


by  tbe  new-found  relics;  in  Gregory  of  Tours,  the  nails 
have  the  power  of  quieting  storms ; fragments  of  the  wood 
could  save  a city  besieged.  And  so  on,  and  better  still, 
in  infinite  progression ; for  there  is  scarcely  a book,  a tract, 
or  a sermon  of  the  mediaeval  time,  in  any  way  referring  to 
the  treasures  of  the  Holy  Land,  which  does  not  mention 
Helena’s  pilgrimage  and  its  results. 

. The  effect  of  this  journey  on  the  Latin  West  is  seen  at 
once 1 in  the  “ Itinerary  from  Bordeaux  to  Jerusalem,”  the 
earliest  work  of  Christian  travel,  — a witness  alike  of  the 
^recent  triumph  of  the  Church,  the  restored  peace  and  order 
of  the  Empire,  and  the  resettlement  of  politics  and  society 
with  fresh  religious  interests. 

Our  itinerary  follows  the  main  roads  of  Southern  Gaul 
and  North  Italy,  to  Aquileia;  thence  it  goes  through 
Sirmium  and  Belgrade  to  Constantinople,  and  across  Asia 
Minor  by  the  military  highway  to  Antioch  and  Palestine, 
returning  along  a more  southerly  route  from  the  Bosphorus 
to  Albania  and  Otranto.  Composed  in  the  year  333,  or  at 
any  rate  giving  the  journal  of  certain  pilgrims  in  that 
summer,  this  tract,  which  roughly  and  inaccurately  adapted 
for  the  use  of  Christian  travellers  a portion  of  the  old 
imperial  surveys,  remained  for  a long  time  the  principal 
handbook  of  the  class  whose  needs  it  met.  Its  course  is 
usually  followed;  and  its  relics  form  the  staple  of  every 
account.  Yet  it  has  little  claim  to  originality.  It  simply 
reproduces — in  all  except  its  more  detailed  notes  on  the 
sacred  sites  themselves — the  road-books  of  the  Caesars  : to 
its  tables  of  pagan  place-names  it  adds  a Christian  tour  in 
Judaea  and  the  Syrian  coast;  but  it  has  been  doubted  by 
some,  from  the  state  of  the  St.  Gall  and  Paris  manuscripts, 
whether  this  last  is  not  a later  insertion.  While  this 


Within  ten  years  (325-333). 


I.] 


EARLY  PILGRIM-TRAVEL. 


27 


difficulty  may  be  dismissed,  on  tbe  strength  of  the  oldest 
text  at  Verona,  we  still  have  to  consider  the  curious  fact  that 
the  objects  of  devotion  herein  mentioned,  as  ini  the  case  of 
the  crypt  of  Solomon  for  the  torture  of  the  devils,  are  in 
most  cases  of  a rather  extravagant  kind,  and  argue  a high 
development  of  superstition  and  credulity  at  an  age  fondly 
supposed  by  many  to  be  too  early  for  such  corruptions. 
Those  who  imagine  an  ideal  Church,  before  its  establishment 
by  the  State,  and  derive  all  its  abuses  from  this  source, 
would  perhaps  find  it  hard  to  explain  how  it  is  that  in  a 
tract  dated  within  ten  years  after  the  “ establishment  ” of 
Constantine,  so  large  a number  of  highly  apocryphal  relics 
occur  among  the  few  which  are  mentioned  at  all. 

The  Bordeaux  itinerary  throws  an  interesting  side-light 
upon  the  question  whether  the  primitive  Christian  intelli- 
gence was  or  was  not  more  enlightened  than  that  of  later 
ages ; but  here  we  cannot  notice  this  point,  except  as  illus- 
trated by  our  subject.  And  as  a record  of  travel  or  explora- 
tion, this  pilgrimage  certainly  holds  an  obscure  place.  It 
never  leaves  the  well-known  roads,  except  for  a few  detours 
in  Palestine.  It  tells  us  of  only  one  site  beyond  Jordan,  and 
of  none  of  the  famous  spots  in  Galilee ; the  more  distant 
fields  of  Egypt,  Sinai,  and  Mesopotamia  are  entirely  beyond 
its  ken.  In  all  these  respects,  it  contrasts  curiously  with 
the  journey  of  Silvia,  our  next  important  record.  After  the 
Bordeaux  pilgrim,  we  get  no  other  memorial  of  Christian 
travel  so  nearly  related  to,  and  so  suggestive  of,  the  classical 
and  official  geography ; but  we  get  many  more  important 
and  extensive  journeys  from  Western  Christendom.  In  the 
next  generation,  the  fashion  of  pilgrimage  spread  apace ; 
it  was  recognised  by  the  Church  of  Borne  as  an  act  of 
advanced  piety,  meriting  considerable  indulgence  or  a heavy 
cheque  upon  the  treasury  of  merits ; and  the  leading  men 


28 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


of  the  Catholic  world  found  their  way  to  Palestine  in 
ever-increasing  numbers.  Julian’s  attempt  to  re-establish 
paganism  and  restore  the  Jews  to  their  old  home  (361-363) 
seems  to  have  checked  the  new  movement  for  a time — as  a 
certain  peace  and  prosperity  was  necessary  for  the  develop- 
ment of  such  an  external  activity  ; but  after  the  reaction 
had  collapsed,  it  is  seen  again  in  full  swing. 

Constantine  and  Helena  closed  one  age  of  this  movement 
and  began  another.  They  ended  the  period  of  a simply 
historical  pilgrimage,  unaided  or  nearly  unaided  by  relics, 
shrines,  privileges,  and  visible  memorials  of  the  Bible  story. 
The  Bordeaux  guide-book,  again,  ends  the  unrecorded  and 
begins  the  self-recording  age  of  the  same.  Jerome’s  visit  to 
Palestine  in  372,  still  more  his  second  coming  for  a residence 
of  five  and  thirty  years  in  385,  is  a third  landmark,  com- 
mencing the  most  fashionable  age  of  pilgrim-travel.  In  the 
interval,  seemingly,  between  his  two  journeys  (and  without 
any  immediate  summons  from  him,  or  influence  exerted  by 
him),  occurred  the  visit  of  the  traveller  whose  narrative, 
recently  discovered,1  goes  by  the  name  of  Silvia  of  Aquitaine. 
The  questions  of  authorship,  and  of  the  writer’s  country, 
date,  sex,  and  station,  will  be  discussed  elsewhere;  but  it 
will  be  safe  to  assume  here  that  this  work  was  written  by  a 
Roman  lady  of  rank,  a Christian  of  Southern  Gaul,  belonging 
to  some  sisterhood,  to  whom  the  narrative  is  addressed,  and 
that  she  journeyed  in  the  Levant  between  378-9  and  384-5. 
What  is  of  more  importance  to  us  is  the  extent  of  her 
wanderings,  and  the  interest  of  her  occasional  remarks.  She 
not  only  travels  through  Syria : she  visits  Lower  Egypt, 
and  Stony  or  Sinai  tic  Arabia,  and  even  Edessa  in  Northern 
Mesopotamia  and  on  the  very  borders  of  hostile  and  heathen 
Persia.  The  torrent  of  the  Euphrates  she  compares  to  the 


1 In  1883. 


I.] 


EARLY  PILGRIM-TRAVEL. 


29 


Rhone,  the  greater  to  the  less,  a foreign  to  a native  example  ; 
and,  on  the  way  home  by  the  military  high-road  between 
Tarsus  and  the  Bosphorus,  likens,  with  unconscious  historical 
irony,  the  brigand  habits  of  the  Isaurian  mountaineers,  who 
endangered  this  part  of  her  route,  with  the  similar  failings 
of  the  Arabian  Saracens,  who  were  one  day  to  be  driven 
back  by  those  very  Isaurians  from  the  city  of  Constantine. 
The  future  subverters  and  saviours  of  Christendom  were 
then  alike  outcasts  from  civilisation. 

In  this  letter  we  have  described  for  us  the  most  far- 
reaching  and  enlightened  pilgrimage  of  the  first  five 
centuries.  Its  entire  omission  of  Jerome’s  name,  and 
various  incidental  notices  in  the  course  of  its  story,  can 
leave  but  little  doubt  that  it  is  of  a date  earlier  than  385. 
It  also  gives  us  evidence,  parallel  to  that  supplied  by 
Jerome,  of  the  growing  importance  and  fashionableness  of 
pilgrimage;  for  the  author,  whoever  it  be,  is  clearly  a 
person  of  importance,  and  it  is  difficult  to  picture  such  a 
one  undertaking  the  toil  and  danger  of  so  distant  a journey 
in  earlier  times.  Lastly,  while  from  this  example  it  is  clear 
that  the  monastic  organization  of  Syria  and  Egypt  was  now 
a powerful  attraction  to  Western  devotees,  and  allowing  for 
a natural  preference  for  objects  of  religious  interest,  Silvia’s 
casual  remarks,  historical,  geographical,  or  social,  are  of  quite 
unusual  breadth  and  value,  and  suggest  by  contrast  the  pro- 
bability that  most  of  our  pilgrim  records  have  been  com- 
posed by  persons  of  no  very  high  education  or  employment. 

After  St.  Silvia,  our  memoirs  for  some  time  are  of  a 
strictly  devotional  character,  such  as  the  notices  of 
Paula  or  Eustochium,  or  the  two  Melanias;  and  though 
Jerome  boasts  that  men  came  to  see  him  from  India  and 
Ethiopia,  our  Latin  travel -documents  of  this  age  have 
scarcely  any  bearing  on  geography. 


30 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


Between  the  death  of  Jerome  and  the  accession  of 
Justinian  we  have,  indeed,  occasional  notices  of  the 
journeys  of  Westerns  to  the  holy  places,  not  only  of 
Syria  and  Egypt,  hut  of  Malabar;  but  it  is  nearly  im- 
possible to  make  much  out  of  them,  as  will  be  seen  from 
the  details  to  be  given  in  the  next  few  chapters.  They 
serve,  however,  to  emphasise  the  fact,  confirmed  by  so  many 
different  witnesses,  that  Christianity  reached  its  most  com- 
plete and  deep-rooted  extension  in  the  Old  World  before  the 
rise  of  Islam.  It  is  true  that  the  Churches  of  the  far  East 
have  little  or  no  connection  with  Europe;  and  that  their 
prosperity  is  now  only  to  be  seen,  by  us  who  look  back  over 
so  many  centuries,  through  a haze  as  tantalising  as  the  mist 
that  conceals  their  decline  and  fall ; — but  the  vision,  though 
dim,  is  not  a mirage. 

Between  Constantine  and  Heraclius,  between  the  fourth 
and  the  seventh  centuries,  the  gospel,  though  for  the  most 
part  in  heretical  forms,  came  to  dominate  not  only  the  world 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  but  vast  districts  of  Africa  and  of 
Asia,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Cmsars’  power.  Even  in 
Europe  it  won  Ireland  and  the  Caledonia  of  Northern 
Britain,  which  the  legions  had  never  quite  subdued ; south 
of  Egypt  it  conquered  Nubia  and  Abyssinia;  across  the 
Red  Sea  it  won  Yemen  to  itself ; in  the  Erythrean  Ocean  it 
made  the  Island  of  Socotra  a centre  of  its  activity ; as  early 
as  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  its  missionaries  planted  a bishopric 
at  Merv  in  Khorasan;  in  the  time  of  Justinian,  Nestorians 
preached  the  faith  among  the  mountains  of  Herat  and  in 
the  Garden  of  Samarcand ; in  the  lifetime  of  Mohammed  the 
name  of  Jesus  was  first  proclaimed  in  China;  and  at  the 
same  time  Ceylon,  Persia,  and  the  Deccan  contained  an 
“ infinite  number  of  Christians,  both  priests,  monks,  soli- 
taries, women  vowed  to  the  religious  life,  and  laymen.”  Yet 


EARLY  PILGRIM-TRAVEL. 


31 


I.T 

almost  none  of  these  offshoots  were  Catholic.  With  strange 
perversity,  the  sun  appeared  to  shine  upon  the  followers  of 
Patrick,  who  used  the  tonsure  of  Simon  Magus,  and  upon 
the  communion  of  the  “ Wolfish  ” Nestorius,  who  denied  the 
claims  of  the  Mother  of  God,  even  more  than  upon  those 
who  preferred  soundness  of  belief  to  that  heretical  restless- 
ness which  travelled  so  far  and  compassed  sea  and  land  to 
make  one  proselyte.1 

The  most  important  of  our  travel-documents  in  this 
intermediate  time — the  tract  of  Bishop  Eucherius  of  Lyons 
(c.  440),  “ On  Certain  of  the  Holy  Places,”  and  the  “ De- 
scriptio  Parrochise  Hierusalem  ” (c.  460) — are,  as  Ptolemy 
would  have  said,  topographical 2 rather  than  geographical ; 
and  the  notices  of  such  adventurers  as  David  of  Wales  are 
clouded  with  miracle,  and  only  the  bare  fact  of  a journey 
to  Syria  can  be  recovered  from  the  ideal  world  which  has 
coloured  all  the  details. 

During  the  reign  of  Justinian,  Cosmas  Indicopleustes 
journeyed  and  wrote.  In  the  same  reign  the  first  Christian 
description  of  the  Holy  City,  in  any  detail,  was  composed 
under  the  name  of  “ The  Breviary  of  Jerusalem  ; ” and  the 
two  curious  pilgrims,  Theodosius  and  Antoninus  of  Placentia, 
recorded  their  impressions  concerning  the  situation  of  the 
Holy  Land.”  These  remarkably  credulous,  careless,  and 
imaginative  writers  add  a good  deal  of  myth  to  the  already 
unreal  pilgrim-geography,  and  present  the  Palestine  legends 
in  a thoroughly  formed  and  hardened  state.  They  preserve, 
however,  some  notices  of  a more  extended  kind.  Theodosius, 
indeed,  only  indulges  in  a few  flights  of  fancy  beyond  his 


1 Before  Gregory  the  Great,  indeed, 
the  Catholic  Church  seemed  content 

with  dominion  for  the  most  part  inside 
the  Empire,  and  left  outside  enter- 
prise to  the  heretics. 


2 The  same  is  true  of  the  entries 
in  the  “Notitia  Antiochim  ac  Iero- 
solymas  Patriarchatuum  ” of  the 
sixth  century. 


32 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


proper  ground  of  Palestine,  as  when  he  refers  to  countries- 
“where  no  one  can  live  for  the  serpents  and  hippo-centaurs;” 
but  for  the  rest  his  knowledge  is  not  extensive  or  peculiar, 
and  his  narrative,  unlike  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim’s,  has  neither 
the  appearance  of  a journal  or  time-table  nor  of  a guide-book. 
Antoninus,  on  the  other  hand,  is  an  even  more  travelled 
pilgrim  than  Silvia ; he  goes  beyond  her  into  Upper  Egypt, 
and  traverses  all  the  usual  ground  of  Sinai  and  Palestine, 
penetrating  into  Mesopotamia  and  visiting  Edessa.  In  his 
narrative  he  appears  as  a sort  of  older  Mandeville,  who 
mixes  truth  and  fiction  in  pretty  equal  proportions,  but  with 
a resolute  partiality  to  favourite  legends.  Along  with  his 
marvels,  such  as  the  yearly  stoppage  of  the  Jordan  at  the 
Epiphany,  the  devils  to  be  seen  by  night  on  Mount  Gilboa, 
or  the  salt  pillar  of  Lot’s  wife,  lessened,  as  had  been  falsely 
reported,  by  the  licking  of  animals — with  all  this  he  gives 
us  every  now  and  then  glimpses  of  a larger  world,  rarely 
noticed  at  all  by  our  pilgrim-travellers.  He  tells  us  of  the 
effects  of  the  recent  earthquakes  (of  526  and  551)  along  the 
coast  of  Phoenicia ; he  notices  the  splendour  and  civilisation 
of  Tyre,  Gaza,  and  Alexandria ; he  describes  the  hospice  of 
Justinian  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  Ethiopians  whom  he  met  in 
the  Holy  City.  In  the  Sinai  desert  he  speaks  of  Saracen 
beggars  and  idolaters ; in  the  Ked  Sea  ports  he  thrice 
records  the  appearance  of  ships  from  India  laden  with 
aromatics.  He  travels  up  the  Nile  to  the  cataracts,  and 
describes  the  Kilometer  of  Assouan  and  the  crocodiles  in 
the  river ; lower  down,  the  Pyramids  become  for  him  the 
twelve  barns  of  Joseph — a number  which  later  pilgrims 
altered  to  fit  the  text  of  the  seven  years  of  plenty. 

But  far  more  wonderful  than  the  practical  jumble  of 
Antoninus  is  the  systematic  nonsense  of  Cosmas,  whose 
“ Christian  Topography  ” we  must  not  enter  upon  here,  for 


I]  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  TRAVEL;  COSMAS.  33 

its  place  is  among  the  works  of  early  Christian  theory  or 
science — with  Dicuil  and  others  of  that  class.  Yet,  as  a 
traveller,  his  journey  is  deserving  of  especial  attention. 
Unfortunately  the  references  to  it  in  his  writings  are  only 
incidental,  as  his  main  purpose  was  to  set  forth  a system 
of  the  universe.  But  his  travels  to  Western  India,  to  Abys- 
sinia, to  the  coasts  of  the  Bed  Sea,  to  the  Ajan  shore-lands 
beyond  Guardafui,  and  probably  to  Ceylon  and  Palestine 
compose  a very  exceptional  record ; and,  naturally  enough, 
it  is  as  a trader  that  he  makes  these  extensive  wanderings. 

And  whatever  the  absurdities  of  Cosmas  and  his  dogmas 
“ evolved  out  of  holy  Scripture,”  he  is  of  interest  to  us  as 
the  last  of  the  old  Christian  geographers,  and  in  a sense, 
too,  the  first  of  the  mediaeval.  He  closes  one  age  of  civili- 
sation which  had  slowly  declined  from  the  self-satisfied 
completeness  of  the  classical  world,  and  he  prepares  us  to 
enter  another  that,  in  comparison,  is  literally  dark.  From 
the  rise  of  Islam  the  geographical  knowledge  of  Christendom 
is  on  a par  with  its  practical  contraction  and  apparent 
decline.  Even  more  than  actual  exploration,  theoretical 
knowledge  seemed  on  its  death-bed  for  the  next  five 
hundred  years. 

From  the  time,  indeed,  that  Islam  began  to  form  itself 
into  an  organized  civilization  till  the  twelfth  century, 
Christendom  seemed  content  to  accept  it  as  the  principal 
heir  of  the  older  Eastern  culture,  and  took  its  geography, 
its  ideas  of  the  world  in  general,  mainly  from  the  Arabs, 
who  in  their  turn  depended  upon  the  pre-Christian  Greeks. 

Yet  our  last  group  of  pilgrim-travellers  between  Cosmas 
and  the  Yiking  Age,  between  the  creation  of  the  Empire  of 
Mohammed  and  the  fall  of  the  Empire  of  Charles  the  Great, 
however  limited  and  unprogressive,  has  a special  interest 
to  us  through  its  association  with  the  conversion  of  England 

D 


34 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


and  the  beginnings  of  English  science  and  letters  in  the  age 
of  Bede. 

Arculf,  Willibald,  and  Fidelis — the  first  a Frank,  the 
second  an  Englishman,  the  third  probably  Irish — all  fall 
within  the  century  (660-770)  in  which  England  definitely 
joined  the  communion  of  Rome,  and  allied  itself  with  the 
Frankish  kings  and  the  Italian  popes  in  the  work  of 
Christianising  Central  Europe.  Arculf,  the  first  of  Latin 
travellers  in  the  Levant  since  the  Mohammedan  conquest, 
on  his  return  from  Syria  (c.  680)  was  hospitably  entertained 
by  Adamnan,  abbot  of  Iona  and  successor  of  St.  Columba, 
to  whom  he  told  his  story.  Bede  abstracted  and  paraphrased 
this  account,  and  in  his  version  it  became  perhaps  more 
widely  known  than  any  other  of  these  older  pilgrim-records. 

Like  Willibald,  who  made  his  journey  in  the  next 
generation,  and  who  is  especially  noticeable  as  the  earliest 
English  pilgrim  (721-731),  Arculf  is  full  of  confusions, 
omissions,  and  repetitions.  The  narratives  of  both  belong 
to  the  infancy  of  thought  and  of  expression ; but  they  are 
at  least  records  of  a devout  persistence  and  of  a physical 
endurance,  whose  simple  pathos  and  dignity  never  quite 
allow  us  to  forget  that  we  are  now  dealing  with  the 
actions  of  the  men  of  a great  race,  though  still  only  half 
developed. 

Again,  the  impression  given  by  our  two  principal  guide- 
books of  this  “ Frankish  ” Age  is  confirmed  by  the  monk 
Fidelis,  whose  journey  (of  about  750)  is  narrated  by  the 
Irish  philosopher,  Dicuil,1  and  by  Bernard  the  Wise  of  Mont 
St.  Michel,  who  went  over  all  the  pilgrim-ground  a century 
later  (c.  870).  Fidelis,  indeed,  who  describes  for  us  the 
Pyramids  in  a curious  passage,  and  who  sailed  from  the  Nile 
into  the  Red  Sea  by  the  fresh-water  canal  of  Necho  and 

1 In  his  tract  on  the  “Measurement  of  the  Earth.” 


I.]  THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS.  35 

Hadrian,  is  probably  one  of  a separate  group  of  travellers, 
the  Irish  devotees,  who,  between  the  sixth  and  the  ninth 
centuries,  w7ent  out  into  all  lands ; but  Bernard  is  a genuine 
Frankish  pilgrim,  and  the  last  of  any  importance.  His 
account  shows  us  the  Moslem  oppression  of  Christian  visitors 
at  a more  acute  stage  than  any  earlier  narrative,  although 
he  bears  witness  to  the  good  government  and  order  of  the 
Caliphate.  He  went  on  his  travels  at  one  of  the  worst  and 
weakest  times  in  the  history  of  Christendom.  He  pictures 
the  people  of  South  Italy  being  swept  off  as  slaves  to 
Moslem  countries;  the  Campagna  of  Borne  overrun  with 
brigands ; Christian  travellers  fearing  to  move  within  their 
own  lands,  save  in  strong  armed  companies.  The  new 
rulers  of  the  Levant  have  now  changed  the  main  lines  of 
traffic  between  the  east  and  west  of  the  Mediterranean 
world,  and  forced  the  Syrian  route  from  “ Frankland  ” to 
go,  as  Bernard  has  to  travel,  through  Egypt ; for  the  Arab 
dominion  is  now  in  the  height  of  its  power,  controlling  all 
the  lands  between  the  Pyrenees  and  the  Sahara,  between 
the  Sea  of  Aral  and  the  Indian  Ocean,  between  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Indus.  More  than  that — while  Christian  commerce, 
like  Christian  travel,  barely  arrests  the  attention  of  the 
casual  observer  by  any  sign  of  life,  Moslem  enterprise  is 
opening  up  a vigorous  trade  with  China,  with  Further 
India,  with  Malabar,  and  with  Ceylon,  exploring  and 
colonising  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  to  the  equator,  and 
even  approaching  the  harbours  of  Korea  and  Japan,  where 
in  the  tenth  century  they  began  a certain  trade.  Never 
before  or  after  did  Islam  appear  more  nearly  in  the  light  of 
a universal  system ; never  before  or  after  did  it  work  more 
nobly  for  enlightenment  and  for  progress.  Arabic  science 
was  in  its  earlier  prime ; Arabic  astronomy  and  geography 
were  shaping  themselves  after  Greek  models ; the  sword  of 


36 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


Aristotle  had  passed  into  the  keeping  of  the  schools  of 
Cordova,  of  Cairoan,  and  of  Bagdad, — for  a time. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  the  Europe  of  Bernard’s 
day  was  destined  ever  to  witness  such  a turn  of  the  tide  as 
that  Christian  armies  would  carry  war  into  the  heart  of  the 
Caliphate ; still  more  difficult  to  conceive  of  the  same 
Europe  as  once  again  controlling,  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Caesars,  the  best  parts  of  the  world;  most  difficult  of  all 
to  think  of  the  fellow-countrymen  of  our  pilgrims  as  the  dis- 
coverers, settlers,  and  conquerors  of  the  then  unknown  three- 
quarters  of  the  earth  which  lay  shrouded  in  mist  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  known  or  half-known  world.  The  new 
time  needed  new  forces,  a fresh  inspiration  of  virility  and 
daring.  But  here,  with  the  Empire  of  Charles  and  his 
Franks  all  in  ruins,  and  but  little  promise  of  revival,  with 
heathen  Northmen  and  Moslem  Saracens  seemingly  allied 
for  the  destruction  of  Christendom,  this  section  of  our  story 
must  be  left, — where  the  secret  of  the  future  seems  most 
impenetrable,  and  the  dark  hours  have  deepened  into  that 
intenser  blackness  that  comes  before  the  dawn. 

At  the  same  time,  or  a little  earlier  than  the  Breton 
traveller,  another  Latin  had  written  a short  tract  (c.  808  ?), 
“ On  the  Houses  of  God  in  Jerusalem,”  which,  with  Bernard’s 
note-book  and  the  Story  of  the  Penitential  Pilgrimage  of 
Frotmund  (c.  870),  is  our  last  record  of  religious  journeyings 
before  the  “ coming  of  the  Northmen.”  The  new  time, 
indeed,  had  come  already,  and  men  knew  it  not ; in  the 
Yiking  pirates — pagan,  cruel,  fearless,  the  destroyers  of 
monasteries  and  fortresses,  of  books  and  men,  of  art  and 
armies  alike — it  was  not  easy  to  recognise  the  future  strength 
of  Christendom,  the  men  who  were  to  call  Europe  out  of 
sleep,  and  to  awaken  the  new  nations  to  the  fact  of  their 
growth  into  life. 


I.] 


MISSIONARY  AND  COMMERCIAL  TRAVEL. 


37 


II.  The  Levantine  pilgrimages  are  the  principal,  but  not 
the  only  examples  of  early  Christian  travel.  There  was  a 
good  deal  of  Roman  missionary  exploration  in  Northern  and 
Central  Europe,  as  in  the  journeys  of  Augustine  of  Canter- 
bury, of  Cyril,  of  Methodius,  and  of  Ansgar,  from  the  sixth 
century.  In  the  same  time,  and  to  a large  extent  in  the 
same  countries,  the  Irish  monks,  such  as  Call  or  Columban, 
were  busy  with  their  work,  pursuing  it  even  to  such  out- 
lying parts  of  the  world  as  Iceland,1  whose  first  discovery  is 
due  to  them.  The  Byzantine  conversion  of  Russia  after- 
wards (in  the  eleventh  century)  extended  this  work  of 
religious  enterprise  to  a field  but  slightly  known  to  the 
older  Empire;  and  Byzantine  trade  in  distant  quarters  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  though  declining,  continued  to  struggle 
along  the  old  caravan  routes. 

But  here,  in  the  further  East  and  South,  the  Moslem 
ousted  the  Christian  merchant  more  and  more  till  the 
Crusades  ; while  in  the  North-east,  as  late  as  the  close  of  the 
ninth  century,  and  long  after  the  appearance  of  the  North- 
men upon  the  theatre  of  the  world,  the  limits  of  Christen- 
dom and  of  civilisation  might  be  said  to  follow  the  courses 
of  the  Elbe  and  the  Danube.  In  some  places  Slav  and 
Teutonic  heathendom  had  crossed  these  boundaries ; but  in 
other  districts,  as  in  Moravia  and  Bohemia,  it  had  been 
driven  back  far  beyond  them.  Charles  the  Great’s  scheme 
for  a separate  Church  province  beyond  the  Elbe,  under  a 
metropolitan  of  its  own,  was  not  realised  in  his  own  lifetime  : 
but  his  son  Lewis  the  Pious  made  a good  beginning  when  he 
sent  Ansgar  to  be  bishop  in  Hamburg  (a.d.  831) ; for  this 
resolute  and  saintly  missionary,  who  had  already  travelled 
to  Sweden  to  preach  the  gospel,  journeyed,  during  an  epis- 
copate of  four  and  thirty  years,  in  all  the  South  Baltic  lands, 

1 E.g.  in  795. 


38 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


and  introduced  the  first,  though  temporary,  Christianity 
into  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Nordalbingia.  Similarly,  the 
Frankish  conversion — in  somewhat  forcible  manner — of  the 
Saxons,  of  the  King  of  the  Moravians,  of  some  of  the 
Bohemians,  and  of  scattered  tribes  beyond  the  Elbe,  opened 
the  way  for  the  extension  of  Christendom  by  the  missionary 
travels  of  Cyril  and  Methodius,  who,  between  863  and  885, 
added  Moravia  to  the  Western  world  and  the  Western  faith  ; 
the  conversion  and  consequent  exploration  of  the  Frisian 
country  between  the  Bhine,  the  Ems,  and  the  Weser  had 
been  already  accomplished  by  English  and  other  preachers 
during  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries.  Bavarians  and 
Thuringians  were  first  touched  by  the  new  religion  in  the 
time  of  the  Meowings,  but  with  widely  different  results. 
Under  the  succeeding  dynasty  of  the  Karlings,  Thuringia  is 
a definite  part  of  the  Latin  Church  and  the  Frankish  State  : 
Bavaria,  on  the  contrary,  was  just  as  definitely  outside  the 
political  federation,  and  only  to  a very  limited  extent  incor- 
porated in  the  religious  communion,  of  the  West.  In  all 
these  directions  there  was  some  advance  of  geographical 
knowledge  through  religious  effort,  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
old  Empire, — before  the  conversion  of  the  Northmen,  or 
the  age  of  their  exploring  and  conquering  activity. 

The  Irish  missions,  meantime,  recovered  Northern  and 
Central  England  for  Christendom,  $dded  Ireland  itself  to 
the  Catholic  world,  and  combated  barbarism  with  no  small 
courage  and  success  in  France,  in  Switzerland,  in  North 
Italy,  and  in  still  more  distant  fields.  With  their  religious 
work  they  helped  forward  the  progress  of  social  order,  know- 
ledge, and  art.  In  other  words,  they  did  real  and  manful 
service  to  civilisation,  in  arresting  a further  decline,  and  in 
commencing  a revival  of  culture ; parallel  with  their  crusade 
against  heathendom  went  their  struggle  with  anarchy. 


I.]  GEOGRAPHICAL  SCIENCE  IN  EARLY  CHRISTENDOM.  39 

Their  geography,  or  study  of  the  world,  will  be  seen  most 
completely  in  the  tract  of  Dicuil,  who  is,  for  his  age,  a 
scientist  of  unusual  merit ; and  their  exploration,  though  as 
narrowly  devotional  as  that  of  the  Latin  pilgrims,  is  worthy 
of  a certain  place  in  the  story  of  Western  expansion.  We 
shall  have  to  notice  more  fully  in  another  place  their  most 
important  journeys,  already  mentioned,  such  as  that  of 
Fidelis  and  his  companions  to  the  East,  or  of  the  eighth- 
century  hermits  to  the  Northern  islands. 

Byzantine  trade  and  travel  in  Central  and  Southern 
Asia  and  “ Erythrea  ” will  also  claim  a more  detailed  study 
in  the  body  of  this  volume — so  far,  at  least,  as  it  relates  to 
extension  of  geographical  knowledge,  or  a maintenance  of 
anything  like  a far-reaching  geographical  outlook.  Here  it 
will  be  enough  to  repeat  that  the  record  is  a poor  one  for  our 
purposes,  and  that  its  main  interest  is  connected  with  those 
Nestorian  missions  which  fought  their  way  so  stubbornly  in 
China  during  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  and  founded 
Churches  in  Hyrcania,  Bactria,  and  various  regions  of  Tartary 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  eleventh. 

III.  Geographical  theory  or  science  in  Christendom, 
between  the  age  of  Mohammed  and  that  of  the  Yikings,  is 
in  a state  scarcely  less  rudimentary  than  travel. 

Much  of  the  advance  made  by  the  pagan  world  is  now 
abandoned ; part  of  the  knowledge  once  gained  has  been 
forgotten,  part  seems  to  lie  in  a sort  of  limbo  on  this  side 
of  Lethe,  not  altogether  out  of  sight,  but,  as  it  were,  out  of 
touch  of  the  new  time,  uncared  for,  unattended  to.  The 
word  seems  reversed — “ Let  us  not  now  remember  our  fathers, 
and  the  actions  of  famous  men.”  As  Bacon  said  in  another 
connection,  everything  of  value  seemed  to  sink,  and  only 
the  light  and  worthless  rubbish  came  floating  on  down  the 
stream  of  time.  Ptolemy  and  Strabo,  Herodotus  and 


40 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


Hipparchus,  passed  almost  wholly  away  from  Christian 
memory,  and  the  only  works  of  the  pagan  period  which  held 
much  attention  were  compilations  of  marvels  such  as  those  of 
Solinus,  or  the  lists  of  place-names  which  Orosius,  Guido,  or  the 
anonymous  geographer  of  Ravenna  put  under  contribution. 

The  compilation  of  Solinus,  probably  made  in  the  third 
century,  by  a pagan  analyst  of  the  classic  Mirabilia,  and 
especially  of  Pliny,  became  so  fashionable  in  the  Christian 
Middle  Ages,  and  exercised  so  powerful  an  influence  on  their 
geographical  imagination,  that  it  cannot  be  passed  over.  It 
is  simply  a collection  of  marvels,  chiefly  of  natural  history 
— beasts,  birds,  fishes,  reptiles,  minerals  and  precious  stones — 
brought  together  apparently  on  the  principle  “ Credo,”  or  at 
least,  “Lego,  quia  impossible.”  Never  perhaps  do  we  pene- 
trate more  deeply  into  the  enchanted  world  of  “ geosophists  ” 
than  when  we  turn  over  the  pages  and  study  the  conceptions 
of  Solinus  or  of  Cosmas.  In  the  former,  geography  is  only 
taken  into  account  as  a framework  on  which  the  web  of  the 
story-teller  is  woven  into  the  garments  of  romance  in  which 
the  naked  repulsiveness  of  fact  is  becomingly  draped.  In 
the  latter,  geography  in  its  abstract  and  general  relations  is 
restated  in  terms  of  theology. 

Cosmas,  as  the  first  scientific  geographer  of  Christendom, 
if  not  popular  or  influential,  is  at  least  remarkable,  and  holds 
a distinct  place.  His  Topography,  which  alone  has  survived 
to  us,  is,  above  all,  a work  of  theological  interest.  It  is  both 
destructive  and  constructive.  It  denies  the  roundness  of  the 
earth,  as  asserted  by  the  leading  Greek  geographers  and 
astronomers  ; it  denies  especially  the  existence  of  antipodes, 
or  land  inhabited  by  human  beings  beneath  our  feet ; and  it 
attacks  the  belief  that  the  world  can  be  suspended  in  mid- 
air, or  in  any  sort  of  motion.  On  the  other  hand,  it  alleges 
and  tries  to  prove  a positive  system  of  its  own,  which  has 


X] 


GEOGRAPHICAL  SCIENCE. 


41 


become  proverbial  among  the  curiosities  of  literature  and  of 
thoughts  According  to  this,  theuni-verse~  was-  a fiatparal- 
lelogram,  its  length  exactly  double  of  its  breadth.  In  the 
centre  of  the  unrvefsB~iBy_our^dHd7_surrounded  by  the 
ocean.  Beyond  the  ocean  was  another  earth,  where  men 
lived  before  the  flood,  and  from  which  Noah  came  in  the 
Ark.  To  the  north  of  our  world  was  a great  hill  (an  Indian 
conception)  round  which  sun  and  moon  revolved,  thus 
causing  day  and  night.  The  sky  consisted  of  four  walls, 
meeting  in  the  dome  of  heaven,  on  the  floor  of  which  we  live  ; 
and  these  walls  were  glued  to  the  edges  of  the  outer  world 
of  the  patriarchs.  Heaven,  moreover,  was  cut  in  two  by  the 
Armament,  lying  between  our  atmosphere  and  the  Paradise 
of  God  ; below  this  firmament  lived  the  angels,  and  above  it 
were  waters — the  waters  that  be  above  the  firmament. 

But  besides  these  and  other  cosmological  points,  a great 
deal  of  attention  is  devoted  to  purely  theological  questions, 
such  as  the  precise  state,  history,  and  future  prospects  of  the 
angels ; and  to  questions  where  theology  and  science  “ falsely 
so-called”  mingle  in  a daring  confusion,  as  in  the  hand- 
ling of  those  two  fundamental  truths,  “ Of  the  independent 
being  ofjieaven  and  earth,”  and  “ Of  Moses’  tabernacle^The 
true  modeLoi-thajini verse.’ ’ 

The  reasoning  throughout  is  like  that  to  be  found  in 
St.  Isidore  and  St.  Augustine,  on  the  effects  of  man’s  fall 
upon  the  stars  and  the  vegetable  world,  or  the  atmospheric 
changes  due  to  angels.  But  far  more  valuable  than  Cosmas’ 
arguments,  are  his  digressions  into  matters  of  fact.1  Of  these 
we  have  to  make  mention  elsewhere,  and  it  will  be  seen  that 
their  importance  is  considerable;  but  to  the  author  they 
were  merely  incidental,  and  occupy  scarce  a tenth  of  the 

1 As  in  the  case  of  the  Adule  inscription  or  the  Roman  intercourse  with 
Ceylon. 


42 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


space  given  to  Scriptural  quotations  alone  in  this  enormous 
treatise.1 

Passing  by  the  geographical  summaries  of  encyclopaedists 
such  as  Isidore,  the  next  among  our  men  of  science  are  the 
tabulists  Guido  of  Bavenna2  (c.  800-850)  and  the  Anonymous 
Geographer  of  the  same  city  (c.  650).  They  are  fairly  called 
Tabulists  because,  though  professing  to  give  us  a general 
account  of  the  world,  or  a summary  of  geography,  they  are 
really  occupied  in  drawing  up  a list  of  place-names,  derived,, 
by  their  own  confession,  from  the  works  of  previous  “ philoso- 
phers.” Thus  their  writings,  like  most  of  early  Christian 
cosmographies,  are  connected  with  the  pre-Christian  civili- 
sation. As  the  Bordeaux  itinerary  points  back  to  the 
Antonine  survey,  as  Solinus  refers  us  back  to  Pliny,  so 
these  Kavennese  catalogues  are  almost  certainly  based  upon 
the  Peutinger  table,  that  great  ribbon-map  of  the  Boman 
roads,  which  in  all  likelihood  reaches  back,  ultimately,  to  the 
Augustan  Age.  Thus,  like  the  still  more  wretched  compila- 
tions of  Julius  Honorius  and  Julius  iEthicus,  both  the 
“ Anonymous  ” and  his  disciple  Guido  belong  rather  to  the 
expiring  age  of  classical  geography  than  to  the  mediaeval 
spirit.  A few  incidental  expressions  are  the  only  hints  we 
get  of  the  Christian  period  in  which  these  catalogues  were 
put  together. 

Dicuil’s  treatise  on  the  measurement  of  the  earth  (a.d. 
825),  like  that  of  the  Anonymous  Bavennese,  gives  us  a kind 
of  view  or  description  of  the  world  mainly  taken  from  older 
compilations.  But  in  this  are  embedded  two  valuable 
accounts  of  original  travel,  the  voyage  of  Fidelis  to  the 


1 The  “ Christian  Topography  ” is 

further  illustrated  by  a map  of  the 
world,  with  the  rivers  of  Paradise, 
the  ocean,  and  the  outer  or  patri- 
archal earth,  which,  if  original,  is 


perhaps  the  earliest  of  Christian 
mappe-mondes. 

2 Or  of  Pisa,  according  to  some 
recent  conjectures. 


I.] 


GEOGRAPHICAL  SCIENCE. 


43 


Levant,  and  the  journeys  of  Irish  monks  in  the  Northern 
islands,  both  of  the  eighth  century.  Compared  with 
most  of  his  sources  and  co-workers— in  the  systematic  expo- 
sition of  geography— Dicuil  is  not  at  all  contemptible ; and 
his  work  is  perhaps  the  chief  memorial  of  the  distinctive 
Irish  tradition,  as  it  is  the  latest.  In  his  own  lifetime 
began  the  Viking  attacks  upon  the  British  Isles — a few 
years  after  he  wrote  upon  the  measurement  of  the  earth, 
the  Ostman  kingdoms  were  founded  in  Leinster.  Barbarism, 
though  the  barbarism  of  a supremely  creative  and  pro- 
gressive race,  overwhelmed  in  the  ninth  century  that 
civilisation  of  Christian  Ireland  which  is  so  interesting  in 
itself,  and  so  irritating  in  its  poetic  obscurity  and  uncertainty 
to  us  of  the  modern  world.  The  art,  the  literature,  and  the 
missions  of  Patrick’s  Church  perished  under  the  first  heathen 
onslaught,  and  its  scientific,  in  particular  its  geographical, 
study  naturally  sank  with  other  treasures  in  the  storm. 

In  addition  to  our  four  chief  examples  of  geographical 
theory  in  this  time — Solinus,  Cosmas,  the  Ravennese 
geographer,  and  Dicuil — we  have  also  tried  to  select  from 
every  side  of  the  Christian  literature  of  the  earlier  Middle 
Age,  examples  of  geographical  theory,  so  far  as  these  had 
anything  distinctive  or  remarkable  about  them,  either  for 
wisdom  or  for  folly ; and  we  have  attempted  to  touch  upon 
every  one  of  the  minor  geographical  writings  of  this  time,  in 
Latin  Christendom,  that  seemed  for  any  reason  worthy  of 
notice.  The  result  of  this  is  such  as  we  might  expect,  from 
the  fierce  opposition  between  the  extremist  element  in  the 
early  Church  and  the  spirit  of  pagan  science, — an  opposition 
which  the  later  Middle  Ages  grew  less  and  less  disposed  to 
accentuate,  till,  in  the  time  of  the  Renaissance,  churchmen 
seemed  ready  to  do  what  St.  Jerome  so  feared  4for  himself,, 
and  to  become  half  Ciceronian  and  half  Christian.  But 


44 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


before  the  tenth  century  there  was  little  danger  of  that. 
The  wisdom  of  this  world  was  reckoned  by  most  of  the 
Patristics  as  mere  folly  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  both  the 
physical  and  metaphysical  study  of  the  Greeks  was  freely 
dismissed  as  “ windy  babble  ” by  the  more  fanatical  school 
of  Christian  writers.  On  the  other  hand,  an  extraordinary 
proportion  of  ancient  myth  was  eagerly  adopted  into  the 
service  of  the  new  system ; questions  of  pure  science  were 
settled  by  Biblical  texts  after  the  manner  of  a remote  and 
oracle-guided  antiquity ; and  fresh  questions  of  almost 
incredible  pettiness  or  absurdity  were  mooted  and  discussed. 
What  must  have  been  the  state  of  physical  science  in 
general,  and  of  geography  in  particular,  when  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  least  superstitious  of  the  Fathers,  St.  Isidore 
of  Seville,  could  spend  his  time  in  debating  whether  the 
stars  had  souls,  and,  if  so,  what  they  would  do  at  the  day 
of  Besurrection ; when  so  great  a scholar  as  Theodore  of 
Mopsuestia  could  substitute  the  personal  agency  of  angels 
for  the  natural  laws  of  celestial  movements,  thus  employing 
them,  as  J ohn  Philoponus  complains,  like  porters  to  hold  up 
and  push  about  the  heavenly  bodies ; or  when  Alcuin,  in 
trying  to  give  some  true  ideas  of  nature  to  the  court  of 
Charles  the  Great,  was  obliged,  in  language  suitable  for 
little  children,  to  speak  of  the  year  as  a waggon  with  four 
horses,  Night  and  Day,  Warmth  and  Cold;  driven  by  two 
coachmen,  Sun  and  Moon ; passing  by  the  twelve  stations  of 
the  months ; and  escorted  by  the  twelve  watchmen  of  the 
Signs  of  the  Zodiac  ? 1 

The  belief  in  a round  or  spherical  world  professed  by  the 
Venerable  Bede  with  tolerable  clearness,2  and  by  some  others 

1 See  Alcuin’s  “ Disputatio  Re-  Mundi,”  throughout, 
galis Isidore,  “De  Natura  Rerum, ” 2 As  in  “ De  Natura  Rerum. 

27;  John  Philoponus,  “ De  Creatione 


I.] 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  MAPS. 


45 


with  varying  degrees  of  confidence,  was  robbed  of  all 
practical  value,  in  the  few  cases  where  it  gained  a hearing, 
by  the  dogma  that  only  one  race  of  human  beings  could  be 
supposed — all  derived  from  Adam,  and  included  in  the 
nations  to  whom  the  gospel  had  been  already  preached.  In 
the  almost  universal  belief  moreover,  the  torrid  zone  could 
not  be  crossed  for  the  heat ; and  so  the  notion  of  the  “ lower 
parts”  of  the  globe  (apart  from  the  difficulties  of  a topsy- 
turvy world)  was  generally  condemned,  as  both  unscriptural 
and  ridiculous. 

Lastly,  the  maps  of  this  time,  as  far  as  they  have  sur- 
vived to  us,  barely  show  even  the  commencement  of 
mediseval  cartography.  True,  we  have  the  scheme,  if 
genuine,  of  Cosmas  himself ; the  mappe-monde  of  Albi 
seems  to  have  been  executed  about  730 ; and  the  original 
plan  of  the  Spanish  theologian  Beatus  was  probably  com- 
posed in  776;  but  of  the  last  named  we  only  possess  the 
later  derivatives  of  “ St.  Sever  ” (c.  1028-1072),  “ Turin  ” (c. 
1080),  “ London  ” (1109),  and  “ Ashburnham  ” (tenth  cen- 
tury), with  six  others  of  the  eleventh,  the  twelfth,  and  the 
thirteenth  centuries. 

The  position  and  work  of  Beatus  will  be  examined  in 
another  place ; but  it  may  be  well  to  note  here,  how  his 
map,  like  the  tenth-century  almanack  of  Bishop  Harib  of 
Cordova,  was  drawn  in  the  time  of  complete  Moslem 
domination  over  the  peninsula.  Beatus  himself,  seemingly 
a priest  and  monk  of  the  Asturias,  was  possibly  deprived  by 
this  very  fact  of  many  opportunities  of  wider  knowledge  ; and 
so,  although  his  map  is  free  from  the  elaborate  absurdities 
and  deceptions  of  some  later  examples,  it  is,  as  a world- 
sketch,  among  the  crudest, — for  in  it  the  rudimentary  truths 
of  the  earth’s  surface,  and  of  the  distribution  of  its  seas  and 
lands,  are  nearly  lost.  Its  interest,  of  course,  is  mainly 


46 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


theological : it  is  an  attempt  to  illustrate  the  Bible  world, 
in  a commentary  on  the  Apocalypse ; and  it  is  the  work  of 
the  chief  orthodox  opponent  of  the  Adoptionist  heretics, 
Felix  of  Urgel  and  Claudius  of  Turin,  whose  contempt  for 
pilgrimage  is  also  noticeable. 

The  xYlbi  map,  though  only  a little  sketch  by  comparison, 
has  a rather  closer  relation  to  facts  : its  place-names  are 
apparently  derived  from  the  geographical  section  of  Orosius’ 
“Universal  History”  and  from  Julius  Honorius,  whose 
text  it  is  especially  drawn  to  illustrate.  Some  have  con- 
jectured that  the  draughtsman  had  seen  Cosmas’  map  of 
the  Mediterranean  world  and  its  outliers ; but  this  does  not 
seem  to  be  proved  by  a close  comparison  of  the  two  plans. 

By  the  side  of  Christian  enterprise  it  may  be  useful  to 
place  a brief  summary  of  non-Christian  parallels  in  the  same 
period.  Without  attempting  to  treat  these  in  anything  like 
an  exhaustive  manner,  we  shall  find  material  enough  to 
show  how  inadequate  the  knowledge  of  Christendom  then 
was,  if  judged  only  by  contrast.  The  subject  of  this  inquiry, 
as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  is  mainly  the  geographical 
movements  of  Western  or  Latin  Christendom  ; but  both  in 
this  and  subsequent  parts  some  attention  will  be  given  both 
to  exploration  and  geographical  literature  among  Greek  or 
Eastern  Christians  and  among  non-Christian  races,  such  as 
the  Arabs,  the  Chinese,  or  the  early  Norsemen.  Our  inner 
circle  will  be  therefore  strictly  a part  of  European  history ; 
but  outside  this  we  shall  try  to  deal  with  the  progress  of 
discovery  and  “earth-knowledge”  in  non-European  lands, 
though  only  in  the  way  of  selection. 

Now,  many  of  the  more  important  monuments  of  Arab 
and  Chinese  travel  and  science  belong  to  a time  earlier  than 
the  epoch  when,  at  the  close  of  the  ninth  and  beginning  of 
the  tenth  century,  both  Islam  and  China  underwent  their 


t]  THE  NON-CHRISTIAN  WORLD  OF  THIS  TIME.  47 

most  important  mediseval  revolution ; and  it  is  not  a little 
singular  that  at  the  very  same  period  when  the  expansive 
energy  of  Western  Europe,  even  in  pilgrimage,  seemed  to 
have  become  practically  exhausted,  or  at  least  unfruitful, 
both  the  Caliphate  and  the  Celestial  Empire  should  have 
suffered  so  severely  from  social  and  governmental  disorder 
The  whole  world  seemed  to  receive  about  this  epoch  a 
certain  lowering  of  its  tide  of  life. 

On  the  one  hand,  the  Bagdad  Caliphate  lost  all  its 
political  force— the  last  caliph  who  could  be  termed  both 
pope  and  emperor  of  the  Saracens  died  in  940 ; and  with 
this  political  degradation  ended  the  first  great  school  of 
Moslem  geographers  and  travellers,  in  the  person  of  Massoudy 
— a school  which  had  had  a continuous  and  active  existence 
for  a century  and  a half,  or  even  more.1 

On  the  other  hand,  the  domestic  revolution  of  878,  and 
the  consequent  depression  of  foreign  trade,  inaugurated  a 
new  era  in  China.  In  the  course  of  the  next  two  generations 
the  whole  spirit  of  the  government  and  of  the  people  seemed 
to  have  altered ; the  age  of  comparative  enterprise  and  open- 
ness was  definitely  closed;  and  the  age  of  comparative 
exclusiveness  as  definitely  begun. 

Modern  China,  the  most  suspicious,  self-contained,  and 
anti-foreign  of  countries,  now  had  its  starting-point.  The 
stream  of  Buddhist  pilgrims  from  the  Celestial  Land  to  India 
and  the  “ countries  of  the  West  ” markedly  decreased  in  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries ; in  the  same  age  the  Christianity 
which  Nestorian  missionaries  had  imported  into  the  Silk 
Land  became  practically  extinct ; at  the  same  time  Chinese 
merchants  ceased  to  frequent  the  ports  of  Southern  and 
South-Western  Asia,  and  nearly  all  Chinese  harbours  were 
closed  against  import  traffic. 


1 Circ.  780-950. 


48 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


Spain  was  almost  the  only  country  of  the  civilised  or 
semi-civilised  world  where,  during  the  tenth  century,  a high 
standard  of  political  efficiency,  of  mental  culture,  and  of 
social  progress  was  kept  up : and  even  this  was  a deceptive 
splendour ; for  the  next  forty  years  (a.d.  1000-1040)  wit- 
nessed an  utter  collapse  of  the  Kingdom  of  Cordova ; and  a 
great  weakening  of  its  intellectual  energy  accompanied  the 
political  and  social  breakdown.  Just  as  the  Persian  and 
Arabian  Empires  normally  stopped  short,  in  their  Indian 
dominion,  at  the  great  Rajpoot  deserts  beyond  the  Indus,  so 
the  history  of  most  mediaeval  kingdoms,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Yellow  Sea,  seems  to  pause,  as  it  were,  on  the  edge 
of  an  unproductive,  unprogressive,  and  often  reactionary  or 
half-anarchic  interval,  as  it  nears  the  end  of  the  first 
Christian  millennium. 

1.  Beginning  in  the  age  of  the  Caliph  A1  Mansor,  the 
immediate  predecessor  of  Haroun  A1  Raschid,  the  early 
Arabic  geography  was  brought  to  maturity  under  Haroun’s 
successor,  A1  Mamoun  (813-833),  in  the  age  of  Charlemagne 
and  Louis  the  Pious.  In  his  reign  many  of  the  chief  works 
of  Greek  geography  were  translated ; observatories  were 
built;  the  positions  of  places  were  ascertained  by  astrono- 
mical calculation;  original  or  quasi-original  works  were 
composed  on  the  basis  of  the  Hellenic  models  now  so 
eagerly  studied ; and  Arab  explorers  traversed  nearly  every 
country  of  Southern  and  Central  Asia,  of  Northern  Africa, 
and  of  Mediterranean  Europe. 

Rising  out  of  a host  of  lesser  figures,  we  have  in  this 
age,  the  early  ninth  century,  three  pre-eminent  Moslem 
geographers  — Mohammed  Alkharizmy,  Alfergany,  and 
Soleyman  the  Merchant.  The  first  two  occupied  them- 
selves with  theory  and  science,  the  last  with  practical  travel ; 
the  one  wrote  upon  the  astrolabe,  upon  the  climates,  upon 


I.] 


EARLY  MOSLEM  GEOGRAPHY. 


49 


Greek  and  Indian  observations ; the  other  gave  the  first 
Arab  account  of  China  and  of  many  of  the  coast-lands  of  the 
Indian  Ocean.  His  voyages  seem  to  have  been  made  about 
A.D.  850 ; but  at  least  ten  years  earlier  the  Caliphs  had 
begun  the  systematic  exploration  of  the  countries  of  Turkestan 
and  of  what  is  now  called  European  Russia,  lying  beyond 
the  northern  frontiers  of  Islam.  Sallam  the  Interpreter, 
sent  from  Bagdad  on  this  mission  (in  840),  traversed  the 
regions  to  west,  north,  and  east  of  the  Caspian ; and  his 
discoveries,  disfigured  as  they  were  by  the  legendary  and 
superstitious  spirit  of  their  narrator,  were  carried  forward 
with  far  sounder  results  by  Ibn  Fozlan  in  his  Russian 
travels  of  a.d.  921. 

From  voyages  such  as  Soley  man’s  gradually  arose  the 
series  of  narratives  which  we  know  by  the  name  of  Sindbad 
the  Sailor — a real  account,  with  a little  more  of  mystery  and 
exaggeration  than  usual,  of  the  experiences  of  early  Arabic 
mariners  in  the  Southern  Ocean,  “ selected  and  arranged  for 
popular  use.”  A very  different  class  of  geographical  work  is 
represented  by  Ibn  Khordadbeh’s  description  of  trade  routes, 
lands,  and  taxes  (a.d.  890),  where  statistical  tables  are  oddly 
interspersed  with  legendary  narratives,  and  where  there  is  a 
marked  absence  of  first-hand  experience ; but  where  we  find 
a digest  of  many  facts  as  to  places,  distances,  and  commercial 
highways  useful  for  the  Caliph’s  government.  Lastly,  sur- 
prising precision  was  given  to  Moslem  science  at  the  close 
of  our  period  by  men  like  Albateny;  extensive  overland 
travels  were  accomplished,  and  interesting  observations  were 
made  by  Ibn  Haukal;  the  borders  of  the  civilised  world 
were  pushed  southwards  along  the  East  African  coast  by 
Arab  traders  and  warriors,  such  as  those  of  the  Emosaid 
family ; and  encyclopaedic  work  began,  both  in  practical 
travel  and  literary  geography,  with  Massoudy.  To  the 

E 


50 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch. 


last  named  certainly  belongs  the  leading  place  among  all 
those  men  who,  in  the  interests  of  Geography,  either 
journeyed  or  wrote  within  the  limits  of  the  early  Middle 
Ages.  As  an  explorer,  he  touched  the  Atlantic  on  one  side, 
and  the  China  Sea  on  the  other ; towards  the  South,  he 
seems  to  have  crossed  the  equator  and  reached  the  Zanzibar 
Islands,  if  he  did  not  visit  Madagascar  ; only  on  the  northern 
side  was  he  content  with  the  limits  of  Islam  and  the  excur- 
sions of  the  less  ambitious  of  his  predecessors.  As  a writer, 
Massoudy  has  almost  the  quiet  confidence  of  Lord  Bacon, 
that  he  has  taken  all  knowledge  for  his  province ; and  few 
indeed  are  those  in  ancient  or  modern  times  who  have 
collected  a geographical  anthology  of  equal  variety  and  bulk. 

2.  Never  did  China  display  a less  exclusive  spirit  than 
during  this  same  period.  In  trade,  it  kept  up  a pretty 
constant  intercourse,  from  the  fifth  century,  with  the  southern 
coast  of  Asia  as  far  as  Ceylon ; and  at  times  this  intercourse 
was  extended  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  even  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Euphrates.  Foreign  merchants  crowded  its  ports  in  the 
time  of  the  earlier  caliphs  and  under  the  emperors  of  the 
Thang  dynasty ; foreign  embassies  and  visitors  were  received 
at  court ; and  diplomatic  missions  were  despatched,  though 
more  rarely,  to  outside  lands.  In  religious  travel,  a series 
of  pilgrims  journeyed  to  India  between  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  and  the  end  of  the  seventh  centuries ; the  names  of 
more  than  sixty  are  preserved ; and  among  them  at  least  two 
enjoyed  great  renown.1  Fa-Hien  and  Hiouen-Thsang  may 
rank  among  the  foremost  of  the  purely  religious  travellers. 
The  latter  especially  was  a man  of  profound  learning  and 
trained  intelligence,  and  had  no  small  share  of  scientific 
interest,  as  any  one  may  see  by  the  descriptions  of  foreign 
countries  in  his  “Life”  and  “Records.” 

1 The  first  journeying  from  399  to  414 ; the  second  from  618  to  636. 


I.]  DISCOVEKIES  OF  THE  CHINESE.  51 

It  is  strange  enough  to  find  two  other  achievements  of 
great  moment  claimed  by  the  Chinese  of  this  age — the  dis- 
covery of  America,  and  the  invention  of  the  compass.  We 
shall  see,  later  on,  what  is  the  chief  evidence  under  each  of 
these  counts ; here  we  may  perhaps  express  a belief  in  the 
possibility  of  Buddhist  missionaries  and  others  creeping,  as 
alleged,  or  rather  suggested,  round  the  northern  angle  of 
the  Pacific  from  Corea  to  Alaska  and  the  fiords  of  British 
Columbia,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries.  On  the  other 
question,  it  seems  clear  that  the  Celestials  were  acquainted 
with  the  indicating  power  of  magnetised  iron  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  that  various  improvements  in  the  use  of 
the  same  were  made  by  the  Emperors  of  the  Thang  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries.  But  the  water  or  pivot 
compass,  as  we  know  it,  was  not  employed  till  about 
A.D.  1110. 

As  we  look  back  upon  the  course  of  a movement  which 
through  so  many  centuries  of  European  life  appears  often 
stationary  or  even  retrograde,  in  the  midst  of  our  disappoint- 
ment and  weariness  we  may  find  some  comfort  in  the 
comparative  value  even  of  such  devotional  enterprise.  And 
as  comparison  is  the  only  test  of  any  age  or  of  any  man 
therein,  the  very  blunders  and  limitations  of  the  past  have  a 
constant  as  well  as  an  historical  value  to  us.  Eor  they 
remind  us  not  only  how  we  have  come  to  our  present 
mastery  over  the  world,  but  also  how  imperfect  the  work  even 
of  our  time  must  be  in  the  light  of  the  ultimately  possible. 

So,  if  our  pilgrim-travellers  and  Bible  scientists  have 
interests  the  very  reverse  of  ours,  thoughts  which  to  us  seem 
unthinkable,  or  fancies  that  repel  us  as  rather  absurd  than 
poetic,  it  will  not  be  for  us  to  utterly  despise  men  who,  in  a 
true  sense,  were  making  their  times  ready  for  better  things. 


52 


INTRODUCTORY. 


[Ch.  I. 


And  especially  we  must  remember  this 1 in  our  mournful 
and  threatening  close.  A half-barbarised  world  had  entered 
upon  the  inheritance  of  a splendid  past,  but  it  took  cen- 
turies before  that  inheritance  was  realised  by  the  so  altered 
present.  In  this  time  of  change,  we  have  men  writing  in  the 
language  of  Csesar  and  Yirgil,  of  Alexander  and  Sophocles, 
who  had  been  themselves,  or  whose  fathers  had  been,  mere 
“ whelps  from  the  kennel  of  barbarism  ” to  Greeks  and 
Romans  of  the  Old  Empire. 

We  have  been  passing  through  the  time  of  the  recon- 
struction of  society,  the  only  apparent  reaction  which  our 
Western  world  has  known,  and  that  only  apparent,  when 
savage  and  strong  men  who  had  conquered  were  set  down 
beside  the  overworked  and  outworn  masters  of  France,  and 
Italy,  and  Spain,  and  Britain  to  learn  from  them,  and  to 
make  of  them  a more  enduring  race. 


Particularly,  of  course,  in  relation  to  Christendom. 


( 53  ) 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.1 


I.  Before  Jerome — a.d.  370. 

The  earliest  traditions  of  Christian  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy 
Land  from  Western  Europe  are  those  of  the  very  doubtful 
Gallic  matron  who  was  said  to  have  returned  to  her  own 
country  with  a shell  full  of  the  blood  of  John  the  Baptist, 
then  newly  murdered  by  Herod  Antipas  (a.d.  31) ; 2 and  of 
Quilius,  King  of  the  Brito-Saxons,  as  he  is  absurdly 
called,  who,  in  or  about  the  year  40,  was  supposed  to  have 
visited  Jerusalem  and  brought  back  relics.  But  all  the 
stories  of  this  kind,  from  the  first,  second,  and  third 
centuries,  are  vague  and  shadowy,  as  far  as  they  relate 
to  Latin  or  Western  enterprise.  It  is  in  Greek  pilgrimage 
that  the  oldest  authentic  memorials  are  to  be  found ; 3 and 
the  mass  of  these  memorials  is  rather  Asiatic  than  European. 
In  any  case  they  do  not  concern  us  here,  in  an  attempt  to 
trace  the  earlier  story  of  Christian  explorers.  To  all  men 


1  The  Primary  authority  for  almost 
all  the  texts  in  clis.  ii.,  Hi.,  and  iv.,  is 

Tobler  and  Molinier1  s Collection,  vols.  i., 
i. 2, and  ii.:  “Itinera  Hierosolymitana 
et  Descri  | itiones  Terras  Sanctae  Beilis 
Sacris  Anteriora  et  Latina  Lingua 
exarata  Sumptibus  Societatis  illus- 
trandis  Orientis  Latini  Monumentis 

ediderunt  Titus  Tobler  et  Augustus 


Molinier.”  Genevae,  Typis  J.  G. 
Fick,  1877  and  1885.  [Vol.  ii.,  ed. 
by  Molinier  and  Kohler.] 

2 Greg,  of  Tours,  De  Gloria  Mar- 
ty rum,  c.  12. 

3 Guibertus  de  Novigento,  De  Vita 
Sua,  ii.  1.  Cf.  also  Paul  us  Orosius, 
Hist.  vii.  6 ; Josephus,  Antiq.  Jud.  xx . 
chs.  2-4,  etc. ; Euseb.  ii.  12. 


54  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Oh. 

of  the  Greek-speaking  provinces  the  way  to  Syria  presented 
no  more  difficulty  than  the  antiquarian  researches  of  such  a 
student  as  Pausanias  encountered  in  Greece  itself. 

But  of  more  distant  journeys,  and  more  real  exploration, 
from  the  West,  we  have  a great  increase  from  the  fourth 
century.  And  the  pioneers  of  this  new  fashion  seem  to 
have  been  obscure  men,  such  as  Antoninus  the  Martyr,  John 
the  Presbyter,  and  Alexander  the  Bishop,  who  went  to  the 
Holy  Land  “for  prayer  and  to  obtain  knowledge  of  the 
sacred  places  by  inquiry.”  Both  Antonine  and  John  came 
from  Placentia,  or  Piacenza,  in  North  Italy,  and  they 
made  the  Syrian  pilgrimage  about  a.d.  303,  some  twenty 
years  before  Helena,  the  empress-mother,  discovered  the 
relics  in  Jerusalem  which  gave  new  life  to  an  old  custom 
and  made  a ruling  fashion  out  of  the  habit  of  a few 
devotees.  Antoninus  visited  Jerusalem  and  Sinai,  where 
he  saw  a statue  of  pure  white  marble  defiled  and  blackened 
by  idolatrous  sacrifices,1  but  which  became  as  white  as  ever 
when  these  abominations  had  ceased.  John  the  Presbyter 
died  in  Capernaum,  and  was  buried  there,  without  any 
special  or  exciting  experience  to  record.2 

Next  comes  the  journey  of  St.  Helena,  mother  of 


1 “ Tetra  ut  pix  efficiebatur.”  Cf. 
John,  Archd.  of  Placentia,  .Tract  on 
finding  of  S.  Antonine’s  body,  lects. 
vii.  and  viii. ; AA.  SS.,  July  ii.  p.  18 ; 
and  the  (MS.)  Passionarium  at  Milan 
(Ambros  E.  22).  Cf.  It.  Hi.  (303-304 
a.d.),  ii.  33,  34. 

2 The  Alexander  who  is  sometimes 
alluded  to  as  the  earliest  Christian 
pilgrim  is  probably  Alexander 
Flavianus  (c.  212,  a.d.),  “Bishop 
of  Cappadocia,”  whose  pilgrimage 
Jerome  records  in  De  Viris  Illus- 
tribus,  c.  62  (Migne,  P.  L.  xxiii.  674). 


Though  a bishop  in  Greek-speaking 
lands, he  must  have  been  of  Western  or 
Latin  family : cf.  Gesta  Epp.  Hieros. ; 
Delpit,  Essai  sur  les  Pelerinages  a 
Jerusalem,  p.  19  ; Eusebius,  H.  E.  vi. 
11,  20.  The  pilgrimage  of  the  great 
Origen  of  Alexandria  was  shortly 
after  Alexander’s.  We  may  notice 
that  the  latter  became  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem  on  accomplishing  his 
journey.  See  the  references  in  the 
collection  of  the  Societe  de  l’Orient 
Latin,  Serie  Geographique  (Itinera 
Hierosolymitana,  ii.  21,  22). 


II.] 


PILGRIMAGE  OF  HELENA. 


55 


Constantine  the  Great,  and  the  “ Invention  ” of  those  relics 
of  the  Passion  which  made  Jerusalem  the  great  pilgrim- 
museum  of  later  time.  The  references  to  her  visit  are,  of 
course,  innumerable,  but  they  are  all  repetitions  or  ampli- 
fications of  St.  Jerome’s  statement  in  his  Chronicle,1  under 
the  year  321,  that  the  “ mother  of  Constantine,  warned  by 
heavenly  visions,  found  the  most  blessed  sign  of  the  cross 
at  Jerusalem” — an  event  which  is  now  fixed  by  the 
chronologists  to  the  date  326. 

^ Before  her  visit,  we  are  expressly  assured  by  Bufinus,  the 
exact  spot  of  the  Crucifixion  had  been  “ almost  entirely  con- 
signed to  oblivion.”  But  now  the  site  was  discovered,  and, 
finding  Pilate’s  title  “ in  Hebrew  and  Greek  and  Latin  on 
one  cross  ” (out  of  the  three  that  had  been  dug  up),  Helena 
was  disposed  to  think  this  was  the  Redeemer’s,  when  the 
actual  proof  was  given  by  a miracle — the  “ saving  wood  ” 
restored  a dying  woman  to  life  and  strength.  On  this,  the 
Empress  at  once  built  a splendid  church  over  the  spot ; and 
carried  the  nails  and  a part  of  the  cross  itself  to  the 
Emperor : the  rest  was  kept  in  silver  chests  in  the  Memorial 
she  had  erected.  ^ 

From  another  source2  we  hear  how  the  discovery  was 
first  made.  The  three  original  pilgrim-churches  of  the 
Passion  (or  Holy  Sepulchre),  Resurrection,  and  Ascension  of 
Christ,  were  only  built  by  Helena,  after  she  had  found  the 


1 Chronicon,  a.d.  321 ; cf.  Migne, 
P.  L.  xxvii.  671.  Ruf.  Hist.  Ecc.  i. 
7-8. 

2 Bede,  Horn.  Subdit.  xciii. ; Sul- 
picius  Severus,  Hist.  Sacra,  ii.  33, 
34 : and  cf.  also  S.  Paulinus  of 
Nola,  Epist.  xxxi.  cc.  4,  5 (Migne, 
lxi.  c.  327);  Cassiodorus,  Tripartite 
Hist.  ii.  18;  Ambrose,  He  Obitu 
Tbeodosii  Oratio ; Greg.  Tours,  Hist. 
Franc,  i.  34 ; De  Glor.  MM.  i.  5-6 ; 


Altmannus  Altivillarensis,  Vita  S. 
Hel.  ii.  26-28 ; Ansellus,  Epistola  ad 
Eccl.  Paris.,  a.  1108  (Migne,  P.  L. 
clxii.  c.  731);  Berengosus  (De  Laude 
et  Inv.  S.  0.  ii.  5-7  (Migne,  P.  L.  clx. 
956-958);  Alcuin,  Carmina,  c.  147, 
ii.  219  (Froben);  Eusebius,  De  V. 
Const,  iii.  42-44,  and  other  refs,  as 
in  Soc.  de  L’O.  L.,  S.  G.  (It.  Hi.  ii. 
pp.  51,  52,  ed.  Molinier  and  Kohler). 


56  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


true  position  of  the  Gospel  sites  by  threatening  the  Jews 
with  death  for  their  conspiracy  of  silence.  “ By  the  God 
who  made  me,”  the  Empress  was  made  to  say,  in  Christian 
homilies,  “ unless  you  tell  me,  I will  kill  you  every  one.”  1 
A later  story  confidently  declared  that  Helena  would  have 
burnt  alive  those  enemies  of  the  Cross,  if  they  had  not 
confessed.2  A man  named  Judas,  renamed  as  Quiracus  on 
his  baptism,  was  specified  as  the  actual  discoverer  of  the 
site,  by  the  help  of  an  old  story  in  his  family  that  had 
been  handed  down  from  his  great-grandfather.  The  woman 
whose  miraculous  recovery  showed  which  of  the  three  trees 
was  the  Saviour’s  cross,  was  named  Libania,  and  in  the 
tradition  she  appears  as  the  widow  of  Issachar  the  Jew. 
The  reliance  of  the  story  upon  Jewish  aid  is  remarkable,  and 
surely  goes  to  discredit  the  whole.  For  what  Jewish  family 
would  preserve  a local  tradition  about  a victim  of  Jewish 
persecution  between  Hadrian,  who  expelled  all  Hebrews 
from  iElia,  and  Constantine,  nearly  two  centuries  later  ? 

One  Eustathius,3  a priest  of  Constantinople,  is  named  as 
the  builder  of  the  new  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
the  capital,  for  the  future,  of  the  whole  pilgrim-world  of 
Christendom ; and  from  this  time  the  number  of  notable 
pilgrims  whose  names  are  preserved  increases  rapidly. 


1 Cf.  Bede,  Horn,  xciii. 

2 The  difficulty  of  the  preservation 
of  the  wood  for  three  centuries  was 
surmounted  by  Paulinus  of  Nola, 

with  the  argument  that  it  had  been 
anointed  with  the  blood  of  Christ, 
and  was  therefore  indestructible. 
Gregory  of  Tours  (De  Gloria  Mar- 
tyrum,  i.  cc.  5-6)  adds  the  story  we 
have  noticed  in  the  introductory  chap- 
ter, of  one  of  the  nails  of  the  cross 
quieting  a terrible  storm  in  the 
Adriatic  merely  by  being  dropped 
into  the  water;  and  both  he  and 


Cassiodorus  agree  that  another  was 
fixed  in  the  imperial  statue  which 
crowned  the  Porphyry  Column  at 
Constantinople.  Several  early  ac- 
counts, and  especially  Altmann’s 
“ Life  of  St.  Helena,”  speak,  as  we 
have  noticed  before  (introd.  ch.), 
of  a temple  of  Venus  erected  over 
the  spot  by  Hadrian  when  he  de- 
stroyed Jerusalem,  at  the  instigation 
of  the  high-priest  of  the  Jews. 

8 Jerome’s  Chron.  It.  Hi.  ii.  p.  52 
(Migne,  P.  L.  xxvii.  c.  679). 


y 


II.] 


THE  BORDEAUX  PILGRIM  OF  333. 


57 


For  instance,  nnder  the  year  330, 1 Potentinus,  Felicius, 
and  Simplicius,  “Eremites  from  the  diocese  of  Cologne” 
and  a group  of  devotees  from  Western  Europe — not  to 
mention  Eutropia,  the  Emperor’s  mother-in-law,  who  must 
be  reckoned  rather  with  Creek  than  with  Latin  pilgrims, — 
made  the  journey  to  Jerusalem  “for  the  sake  of  the  holy 
relics.” 

Again,  in  333,  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  compiled  the  first  of 
Christian  guide-books,  the  “Itinerary  from  Bordeaux  to 
Jerusalem,”  which  symbolises  the  beginning  of  a new  and 
extraordinary  kind  of  literary  activity.  Like  Origen,  he 
came  “ to  search  after  the  footsteps  of  Jesus  and  His  disciples 
and  the  prophets ; ” like  Queen  Helena,  “ to  seek  know- 
ledge of  a land  so  worthy  of  veneration,”  and  to  “ render 
thanksgivings  with  prayers,” — to  put,  as  the  letter  of  Paula 
to  Marcella  urges,  “ the  finishing  stroke  on  virtue  by 
adoring  Christ  in  the  very  places  where  the  gospel  first 
shone  forth  from  the  Cross.”  But  he  did  more  than  any 
devotee  before  him — he  recorded  what  he  saw,  for  the  help 
of  others.  And  of  this,  the  earliest  of  our  travel-documents,2 
some  detailed  notice  should  be  taken.  It  coincides  pretty 
closely  with  the  start  of  the  Christian  Empire  of  Rome, 
under  Constantine,  and  with  the  impulse  given  by  the 
pilgrimage  of  his  mother,  and  is  one  of  the  many  wit- 
nesses to  the  reconstruction  of  society,  and  to  the  new 
movements  which  stirred  it  at  that  time.  It  immediately 
follows  the  proclamation  of  the  new  faith  of  the  Court,  the 
foundation  of  the  new  capital  of  Constantine’s  creation,  and 
the  gathering  of  the  first  general  assembly3  of  the  new 


1 Acta  SS.  (Boll.),  Iune  iii.  p.  576  ; 
Act.  SS.  7 Sept.  iii.  p.  56. 

2 “ Itinerarium  a Bui  digala  Hieru- 

salem  usque : ” best  text  in  S.  de 


L’O.  L.  S.  G.  It.  Hi.  i.  1.  1-25 
(Tobler). 

3  In  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  a.d.  325. 


58  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


spiritual  state,  of  that  Catholic  Church  which  now  claimed 
a partnership  with  the  Empire.  Thus  it  is  an  evidence  of 
a new  kind  of  activity  created  by  the  new  and  victorious 
religion,  or,  rather,  a fresh  variety  of  an  ever-active  interest 
— the  interest  of  travel  and  of  sentiment,  the  wish  to  see 
new  things,  and  the  wish  to  see  memorable  places.  “ Adora- 
birnus  in  loco  ubi  steterunt  pedes  ejus.” 1 

But  the  record  of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  is  not  only  the 
earliest  narrative  of  a Christian  pilgrimage,  it  is  also  the 
most  detailed  and  exact  among  the  fragments  of  the  Boman 
itineraries  that  have  come  down  to  us,  of  which  the  Peu- 
tinger  table  gives  us  the  expression  in  map  form,  and 
which  were  made  by  imperial  warrant.  Its  exact  measure- 
ments point  to  a direct  copyist  of  the  old  surveys  as  the 
author — a copyist  whose  name  is  unrecorded,  but  who  was 
certainly  a Christian,  and  probably  a native  of  Guienne. 
But,  apart  from  the  knowledge  it  shows  of  the  great  high- 
ways (derived  from  works  like  the  Antonine  itinerary),  its 
notes  are  of  too  short  and  business-like  a nature  for  us  to 
infer  much  about  Christian  knowledge  of  the  world  in  the 
fourth  century.  Its  geography,  unlike  its  superstition,  is  of 
the  slightest.  Yet,  after  all,  only  a few  of  the  later  host  of 
apocryphal  relics  are  noticed,2  such  as  the  house  of  Hezekiah, 
or  the  “ true  monolith  ” which  was  the  tomb  of  Isaiah.  On 
the  other  hand,  scarcely  anything  is  said  about  the  places 
through  which  the  pilgrim-route  on  the  way  to,  and  from, 
Palestine  itself  must  pass.  The  names  of  town  after  town, 


1 Cf.  remarks  of  A.  Stewart  in  his 
preface  and  notes  to  the  translation 
of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim,  in  the 
Palestine  Pilgrims’  Text  Soc.  (1887). 

2 For  instance,  there  is  no  mention 
of  the  “ holy  lance,”  or  the  crown  of 
thorns,  the  reed,  the  sponge,  the  cup  of 
the  Last  Supper,  the  stone  rolled  away 


from  the  sepulchre,  or  the  “ charger  ” 
in  which  John  Baptist’s  head  was 
carried.  Most  of  the  legendary  sites 
in  our  pilgrim  are  connected  with 
Jewish  history  and  the  Temple,  rather 
than  with  the  life  of  Christ  and  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  Cf.  Walckenaer’s 
essay  on  the  B.  P. ; Delpit,  pp.  54-G2. 


II.]  ROUTE  OF  THE  BORDEAUX  PILGRIM.  59 

mountain  after  mountain,  sea  after  sea,  are  just  recorded, 
with  the  distances  between  the  places  named,  and  with 
summaries,  every  now  and  again,  of  the  total  mileage  along 
some  great  section  of  the  road.1 

But,  besides  these  figures  and  names,  there  are  a few 
things  in  the  itinerary  of  more  general  interest.  Thus,  for 
example,  the  date  is  fixed  by  the  statement  of  the  original 
traveller  or  travellers  who  went  over  the  route,  and  laid 
down  the  plan, — “And  so  we  journeyed  from  Chalcedon  on 
the  30th  of  May,  in  the  yeai;  of  the  consulship  of  Dalmatius 
and  Zenophilus,2  and  returned  to  Constantinople  on  the 
25th  of  December  in  the  same  year  ” (a.d.  333).  Again,  at 
a certain  number  of  places,  especially  in  the  Holy  Land 
itself,  something  is  said  about  the  surroundings,  the  history, 
or  the  objects  of  interest.  Thus,  at  Bordeaux,  the  starting- 
point  “ is  the  river  Garonne,  through  which  the  Ocean  Sea 
ebbs  and  flows  for  one  hundred  leagues,  more  or  less,” — a 
reckoning  which  is  only  kept  up  as  far  as  the  city  of 
Toulouse  (Tolosa),  when  all  distances  begin  to  be  stated 
in  miles.  From  Bordeaux  to  Arles,  by  way  of  Car- 
cassonne, Narbonne,  and  Nimes, — this  is  the  first  main 


1 E.g.  from  Bordeaux  to  Arles,  “ 372 
miles,  30  changes,  11  stations” — 
“rnillia  ccclxxii.,  nmtationes  xxx., 
mansiones  xi.”  The  numbers,  how- 
over,  as  Tobler  remarks  (pref.  xiii.), 
are  in  hopeless  confusion:  thus  the 
manuscripts  have  muddled  up  leagues 
and  miles  in  reckoning  the  total  dis- 
tance from  Bordeaux  to  Arles  “ 372 
miles,”  composed  of  106-108  leagues, 
and  21 1-214  miles,  and  really  making, 
even  in  jumble,  only  317-322.  As  the 
Gallic  league,  however,  equalled  1| 
miles  (Roman),  the  difference  is  much 

less  than  at  first  appears.  Of.  A. 
Stewart  inP.P.T.  ed.,  p.  1.  But  it  is 


quite  outside  our  task  to  discuss  the 
intricate  and  lengthy  topographical 
questions  which  rise  out  of  the  itine- 
rary, and  which  belong,  on  one  side, 
to  Roman  historians,  and,  on  another, 
to  Palestine  antiquaries.  We  have 
more  excuse  for  noticing  the  glowing 
language  of  Ausonius  on  the  Bor- 
deaux of  this  day  ; our  pilgrim  came 
from  one  of  the  most  rising  cities  of 
the  West,  already  famous  for  its 
scholars — men  such  as  the  later 
Paulinus(afterwards Bishop  of  Nola). 

2 Flavius  Valerius  Dalmatius, 
brother  of  Constantine,  and  M.  Aure- 
lius Zenophilus  (Xenophilus). 


60  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


section  of  the  journey  ; from  Arles  the  pilgrim  goes  on  to 
Milan,1  through  Orange  (Arausio),  where  Rome  had  once 
received  so  shrewd  a knock  from  the  Gauls,  over  Mount 
Gaurus  and  the  Cottian  Alps.  Continuing  across  North 
Italy  to  Aquileia,  we  are  taken  through  Bergamo  and 
Verona.  From  Aquileia  to  Sirmium  (Mitrowitza),  the  next 
stage  crosses  the  Julian  Alps,  passes  the  boundary  between 
the  Diocletian  division  of  Eastern  and  Western  Empires, 
and  traverses  Pannonia.2  From  Sirmium  to  Singidunum 
(Belgrade),  from  Singidunum  to  Serdica  (Sophia),  from 
Serdica  to  Constantinople,  the  traveller  moves  on  through 
the  European  provinces  of  what  was  even  then  in  process 
of  becoming  the  Byzantine  Empire. 

Leaving  the  new  Christian  Rome  on  the  Bosphorus, 
“ you  cross  the  Pontus,  come  to  Chalcedon,  walk  through 
Bithynia.”  At  Libyssa  (Gezybeh),  two  stations  before  Nico- 
media,  the  pilgrim  (who  has  already  been  reminded  of  recent 
history  at  Viminacium  in  Europe,  “ where  Diocletian  killed 
Carinus,”)  is  told  of  something  more  ancient — “Annibalianus 
is  laid  there,3  who  was  once  king  of  the  Africans.”  Still 
pressing  on  and  crossing  Asia  Minor  by  the  great  military 
road  from  Constantinople  to  Syria,  we  pass  through  “ Ancyra 
(Angora)  of  Galatia ; ” through  Andavilis  (Andaval),  “ where 
is  the  villa  of  Pampatus,4  whence  came  the  curule  horses ; ” 
through  “ Tyana,5  the  home  of  Apollonius  the  Mage ; ” 


1 From  Milan  to  Constantinople  | 
the  itinerary  agrees  with  the  route 
laid  down  in  the  Antonine  survey, 
except  for  the  section  between  Bur- 
dista  and  Virgoli.  The  importance 
of  Milan  at  this  time  (as  of  Aquileia) 
was  at  its  height — “ Mediolani  mira 
omnia,”  as  Ausonius  said. 

2 From  Petovio  (Pettau),  where 

the  pilgrim  enters  Pannonia,  he  l 


| follows  the  northern  banks  of  the 
Drave,  along  the  southern  boundary 
of  modern  Hungary.  Cf.  Zozimus, 
ii.  18. 

3 I.e.  on  his  suicide  at  the  Court 
of  Prusias,  king  of  Bithynia,  b.c.  183. 

4 Probably  a famous  stable  of  that 
' day,  conjectures  Walckenaer,  17. 

5 Kiz  Hissar. 


II.] 


THE  BORDEAUX  PILGRIM  IN  PALESTINE. 


61 


through  the  Cilician  gates,1  “where  are  the  borders  of 
Cappadocia  and  Cilicia,”  and  through  “ Tarsus,  where  Paul  the 
Apostle  was.”  From  Tarsus  the  pilgrim  proceeds  to  Antioch 
and  the  “ palace  of  Daphne,”  then  in  process  of  rebuilding 
at  the  hands  of  Constantine,  crossing  the  frontier  of  Syria 
on  the  way ; and  entering  Phoenicia,  our  route  now  ceases 
to  copy  the  imperial  itineraries,  or  to  follow  the  beaten 
paths,  after  taking  the  ordinary  course  along  the  coast  to 
“ Caesarea  Palestina,”  by  way  of  Antaradus,2 — “ a city  in  the 
sea,  two  miles  from  the  shore,” — Tripolis  (Tarabulus),  Beyrout 
(Berytus),  Sidon  (Saide),  Tyre  (Sur),  and  Sarepta,  “ where 
Elias  went  up  to  the  widow  and  asked  food  for  himself.” 

Finally,  passing  beneath  Mount  Carmel,  “where  Elias 
made  his  sacrifice,”  the  pilgrim  comes  to  the  borders  of 
“ Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Palestine,”  and  finds  himself  at 
Caesarea  in  Judaea  (Kaisarieh). 

“ Here  is  the  bath  of  Cornelius  the  Centurion,”  proceeds 
our  guide-book,  now  beginning  to  be  more  detailed,  and 
enlarging  itself,  so  to  say,  from  a Bradshaw  into  a Baedeker.3 
The  last  piece  of  the  journey  to  Jerusalem  is  not  made 
along  the  direct  route,  but  by  a circuitous  way,  through 
Jezreel,  Bethshan  (Scythopolis),  and  Shechem  (Nablous), 
possibly  to  complete  the  list  of  places  connected  with  the 
history  of  Elijah.  In  this  detour  we  pass  very  close  to 
Nazareth  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  but  without  finding  any 
mention  of  either  in  our  itinerary. 


1 Ghulek  Boghaz. 

2 In  Ruad  island,  where  still  exist 
walls  of  huge  stones,  near  to  the 

Tortosa  of  the  Crusades.  Similarly 
the  pilgrim’s  (1)  Pagrius,  on  the 
Borders  of  Syria  and  Cilicia,  is  the 
crusading  Bagras , a fort  proverbial 
for  strength ; and  so  (2)  his  Ladica 
is  Laodicea  (of  Phoenicia);  (3)  his 


Alexandroschene  is  William  of  Tyre’s 
Scandaleon , “ Champs  de  Lion  ” ; (4) 
his  Porphyrion  is  Haifa. 

3  This  part  is  wanting  in  the  St. 
Gall  and  Paris  manuscripts,  which 
present  the  itinerary  simply  as  what 
Tobler  calls  “ arida  qusedam  viarum 
descriptio  ” (pref.  xii.). 


62  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  LCh. 


First  of  all,  on  leaving  Caesarea,  the  pilgrim  reaches 
Mount  Syna,  “ where  is  a spring,  in  which,  if  a woman  wash, 
she  becomes  pregnant.”  1 Next  he  comes  to  the  town  of 
Stradela,  or  J ezreel,  “ where  King  Ahab  sat  and  Elias  pro- 
phesied,” and  near  it  “ the  field  where  David  slew  Goliath.”  2 3 
Then  through  Bethshan,  or  Scythopolis,  by  way  of  Aser, 
“where  was  Job’s  country-house,”  to  Neapolis,  or  Nablous, 
“ where  is  Mount  Gerizim,”  and  where  the  Samaritans 
declared  Abraham  used  to  sacrifice,  “ ascending  to  the  top  of 
the  mountain  by  three  hundred  steps.” 8 Following  Eusebius 
in  the  distinction  he  makes  between  Neapolis,  Sichem,  and 
Sichar,  our  guide  points  out  in  Sichem,  “ at  the  foot  of  the 
mount  (Gerizim),  a tomb  where  J oseph  lies,  in  the  parcel  of 
ground4  that  Jacob  gave  him.”  Going  on  towards  Jerusa- 
lem, we  come  to  the  “ village  ” 4 of  Bethar,  or  Bethel,  where 
“Jacob  slept,  when  he  was  going  into  Mesopotamia,  and 
the  angel  wrestled  with  him.”  And  here,  too,  was  “ King 
Jeroboam,  when  the  prophet  came  to  him,”  who  was  “ slain 
by  a lion  on  the  way  as  he  returned.”  From  this  point  it 
is  only  twelve  miles  to  Jerusalem ; and  here  the  pilgrim  is 
to  notice  the  “ two  great  pools  ” that  Solomon  made  on  the 
right  and  left  sides  of  the  temple,  “ with  five  porches,  which 
are  called  ‘ Bethsaida  ’ ” (Bethesda) : also  the  crypt  where 
the  aforesaid  Solomon  tortured  the  demons ; 5 the  lofty  tower, 
where  the  Lord  was  tempted — “ If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God, 
cast  Thyself  down  ” — the  corner  stone  of  which  it  was  said,. 


1 Cf.  the  crusading  historian,  Albert 
of  Aix,  vi.  41. 

2 Probably  from  a confused  remem- 
brance of  the  mention  of  a battle 
fought  here  between  Israelites  and 
Philistines. 

3 They  must  have  been  patri- 

archal steps,  or  only  up  a part  of  the 

mount,  for  it  is  1174  feet  high. 


4 Villa. 

5 Only  in  the  Bordeaux  Itinerary, 
which  is  also  alone  in  its  mention  of, 
e.g.,  (1)  Mt.  Syna  and  its  procreative 
fountain ; (2)  the  field,  near  Jezreel 
(Stradela),  where  David  slew  Goliath  ; 
(3)  the  chamber  where  Solomon  de- 
scribed Wisdom;  (4)  the  perforated 
stone  at  the  Jew’s  wailing-place. 


11.] 


THE  BORDEAUX  PILGRIM  IN  JERUSALEM. 


63 


“ The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected  is  become  the  head 
of  the  corner ; ” the  palace  of  Solomon,  “ where  he  sat  and 
described  Wisdom ; ” the  great  vaults  and  pools  underneath 
the  temple  area.  More  than  all  this,  the  very  hob-nails  of 
the  soldiers’  boots  left  their  marks  “ throughout  the  whole 
enclosure  of  the  temple,”  so  plain  “ that  you  would  think 
them  impressed  on  wax ; ” and  the  men  who  left  these 
marks  were  the  very  same  who  slew  Zacharias  between  the 
temple  and  the  altar.  Needless  to  say,  the  traces  of  his 
blood  were  also  clear  enough  upon  the  stone.  Two  statues 
of  Hadrian  must  also  be  seen,  commemorating  the  final 
expulsion  of  the  Jews;  “and  not  far  from  the  statues,  a 
perforated  stone,  to  which  the  Jews  come  every  year,  and 
anoint  it,  bewail  themselves  with  groaning,  and  rend  their 
garments,  and  so  depart.”1  Both  Hadrian  and  Antoninus 
Pius,  we  may  remember,  placed  their  “images”  in  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  which  Hadrian  built  on  the 
site  of  the  Holy  of  Holies ; and  St.  Jerome  speaks  of  these 
as  still  existing  in  his  day,  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century. 
In  the  time  of  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  the  profanation  of 


1 This  must  have  been  very  recent, 
as  Hadrian’s  prohibition  of  Jews  set- 
ting foot  in  the  city  (a.d.  136) 
remained  in  force  till  the  days  of 
Constantine — at  least,  till  his  acces- 
sion as  sole  emperor,  in  324.  During 
his  refoundation  of  the  non-pagan 
city,  from  the  year  of  Helena’s  pil- 
grimage (326)  down  to  the  dedication 
of  his  Martyrion,  or  Church  of  the 
Passion,  in  336,  the  Jews  seem  slowly 
and  gradually  to  have  begun  their 
return.  But  perhaps  the  law  had 
long  been  evaded,  as  in  the  similar 
exclusion  of  Jews  from  England 
between  Edward  I.  and  Cromwell. 
A relic  of  Roman  iElia,  such  as  is 
here  referred  to  by  the  Bordeaux 


Pilgrim,  was  used  in  the  substructures 
of  the  Mosque  El  Aksa,  on  the  site 
of  Justinian’s  Church;  it  bears  the 
inscription:  TITO  ML.  H ADRI- 
ANO. ANTONINO.  AUG.  PIO.  P.P. 
PONTIF.  AUG.  D.D.  See  Vogue, 
“ Eglises  de  la  Terre  Sainte,”  p.  267  ; 
and  Jerome,  “Commentary  on  Wis- 
dom,” iii.  On  the  Zacharias  story 
see  Jerome’s  “ Commentary  on 
Matthew,”  which  welcomes  even  an 
erroneous  tradition  springing  from  a 
righteous  hatred  of  the  Jews.  The 
“ perforated  stone  ” of  the  text  was 
probably  the  Sacred  Rock  of  the 
Temple  Area,  the  Es-Sakhrah  of  the 
Moslems,  the  Altar-stone  of  the  old 
Hebrew  temple.  See  Delpit,  pp.  59, 60. 


64  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


Mount  Moriah,  as  of  a place  sacred  only  to  the  unbelieving 
Jews,  was  complete.  Not  until  the  reign  of  Justinian  did  any 
church  arise  upon  the  spot ; and  even  then  no  attempt  was 
made  to  hallow  the  spot  on  which  the  Temple  had  once  stood. 

In  describing  Jerusalem,  our  guide,  in  thoroughly 
methodical  manner,  commences  with  the  north  end  of  the 
Eastern  Hill,  and  then  proceeds  southwards ; crosses  the 
valley  above  Siloam  to  the  Western  Hill ; returns  towards 
the  north,  and  leaves  the  city  by  the  east,  on  the  way  to 
the  Mount  of  Olives  and  Bethany.  He  almost  certainly 
saw  Constantine’s  buildings,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre ; and  the  Jerusalem  of  his  day 
must  have  preserved  all  the  main  lines  of  Hadrian’s  HSlia. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem,  as  one  goes  round 
the  city,  the  pilgrim  first  notices  the  pool  of  Siloam,  which 
stops  dead  on  the  Sabbath,  “ running  neither  by  day  nor 
night  for  that  space  ; ” the  house  of  Caiaphas,  where  is  the 
pillar  of  Christ’s  scourging  ; the  place  of  the  palace  of  David  ; 
the  walls  of  the  house  of  Pilate ; the  “ little  hill  of  Golgotha ; ” 
and  the  crypt  where  the  Lord’s  body  was  laid,  a stone’s- 
throw  only  from  the  hill  of  suffering.  “ And  there,  by 
order  of  the  Emperor  Constantine,  a church  of  wondrous 
beauty  has  been  built.” 1 But  of  the  seven  synagogues  that 
once  were  to  be  found  in  Sion,  “ one  alone  remains ; the 
rest  are  ploughed  over  and  sown  upon,  as  said  Isaiah  the 
prophet  ” (a  confusion  of  Micah  iii.  12  with  Isaiah  i.  8). 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  city,  going  out  towards  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  the  pilgrim  crosses  the  valley  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  and  sees  the  “stone  at  the  place  where  Judas  Iscariot 
betrayed  Christ ; ” the  “ tree  from  which  they  took  branches 
and  strewed  them  in  the  way;”  and  the  two  “ notable  tombs  ” 
of  Isaiah  and  Hezekiah,  king  of  the  Jews.  Upon  Olivet  is 
1 Of.  Euseb.  Life  of  Const,  iii.  31. 


II.]  THE  PILGRIM  IN  THE  JORDAN  VALLEY.  65 

to  be  found  another  of  Constantine’s  basilicas,  apparently 
built  to  commemorate  the  Ascension,  “ over  the  cave  where 
Christ  is  said  to  have  taught  his  disciples  ; ” close  by  is  the 
“ little  hill  ” of  the  Transfiguration,  conveniently  brought 
from  the  north  of  Palestine  to  the  south  ; a mile  and  a half  to 
the  east  is  Bethany,  with  the  crypt  of  Lazarus. 

Next,  taking  the  way  to  Jericho,  we  see  the  sycamore 
of  ZacchaBus ; the  fountain  of  Elisha,  which  once  made  women 
barren,  but  now  fruitful ; and  the  house  of  Bahab  the  harlot. 
Here  once  stood  the  city  of  the  Canaanites ; but  nothing 
was  now  to  be  seen  of  it,  except  the  place  where  rested  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant  and  the  twelve  stones  which  the 
children  of  Israel  brought  out  of  Jordan,1  together  with 
the  spot  at  which  “ Jesus,  the  son  of  Nave  (Joshua,  the 
son  of  Nun),  circumcised  the  children  of  Israel,  and  buried 
their  foreskins  ” — a first  outline  of  the  later  pilgrim  legend 
of  the  “ hill  of  the  prepuces.” 2 

Nine  miles  from  Jericho,  continues  our  guide,  is  the 
Dead  Sea,  of  a water  most  bitter,  without  ship,  without  fish, 
which  turns  over  any  man  who  tries  to  swim  in  it.  Thence 
to  the  Jordan,  “where  the  Lord  was  baptized  by  John,”  is  a 
distance  of  five  miles  ; and  a rock  upon  the  left  or  further 
bank  of  the  same  marks  the  spot  “ whence  Elias  was  taken 
up  to  heaven.” 

On  the  south,  going  from  Jerusalem  to  Bethlehem,  a 
journey  of  six  miles,  we  pass  the  tomb  of  Bachel ; and  in 
Bethlehem  visit  the  new  church,  “built  by  the  orders  of 
Constantine,”  and  enjoy  a perfect  round  of  sacred  sights, 
with  the  tombs  of  Ezekiel,  Asaph,  Job,  Jesse,  David,  and 
Solomon ; while  only  fourteen  miles  further  on  is  the 
■“  fountain  where  Philip  baptized  the  Eunuch,”  at  Bethasora 

1 But  which  were  really  set  up,  I pare  Josh.  iv.  20). 
mot  at  Jericho,  but  at  Gilgal  (com-  J 2 “ Acervus  preputiorum.” 

F 


66  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 

(Bethzur,  Beit  Sur).  Thence  to  Terebinthus,  or  Mamre, 
two  miles  from  Hebron,  where  the  pilgrim  can  sit  under  the 
shadow  of  the  same  oak  that  sheltered  Abraham,  when  he 
“ spoke  with  angels,  and  ate  food  with  them,”  a spot  now 
marked  by  a “ wondrously  fair  church  ” of  Constantine’s. 
Lastly,  in  Hebron  itself  is  the  great  monument 1 in  which 
lie  the  three  first  Hebrew  patriarchs  and  their  wives — 
Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Sarah,  Rebekah,  and  Leah. 

Here  ends  abruptly,  without  any  notice  of  the  sites  of 
Galilee,  and  with  but  few  allusions,  comparatively  speaking, 
to  Hew  Testament  history,  our  guide’s  account  of  the  Holy 
Land,  and  what  the  religious  traveller  is  to  visit  in  the 
same.  The  Bordeaux  pilgrim  now  begins  again  to  copy  the 
Antonine  itinerary,  and  giving  us  a summary  of  the  whole 
distance  from  Constantinople  to  Jerusalem  (1164  miles), 
relapses  into  his  first  condition,  that  of  a mere  time-table,  or 
mile-record,  briefly  noting  the  chief  stages  of  the  return 
journey,  which,  unlike  the  way  out,  is  not  all  by  land. 
And  of  these  notes,  the  only  ones  of  general  interest  are 
the  mention  of  Heraclea  in  Thrace,  where  the  traveller 
diverges  from  his  former  route  to  follow  the  Via  Egnatia 
due  west  through  Macedonia  to  the  Adriatic  near  Durazzo ; 
of  Philippi,  or  Filibeh,  “ where  Paul  and  Silas  were 
thrown  into  prison;”  of  Euripidis  (Yrasta),  ‘‘where  lies 
Euripides  the  poet ; ” of  Pella  (Yenikeui),  “ whence  came 
Alexander  the  Great  of  Macedon ; ” and  of  Aulon  in  Epirus 
(Aulona),  at  the  end  of  the  Egnatian  Way,  where  we  are  to 
take  ship  for  Italy.  A voyage  of  one  hundred  miles  will 
land  the  returning  traveller  at  Hydruntum  or  Otranto,  and 
from  this  point  his  course  is  easy,  by  way  of  Brindisi,  Bene- 
vento,  Capua,  and  Appii  Forum,  to  Rome.  The  rest  of  the 
way  home  is  only  described  as  far  as  Milan,  and  this  in  the 


1 Memoria. 


II.]  THE  BORDEAUX  PILGRIM  TYPICAL.  67 

briefest  and  most  cursory  manner,  without  a note  of  interest 
upon  any  place.  For  the  guide-book  is  business-like  to  the 
last.  Its  object  was  to  indicate  the  way  to  and  from  Jeru- 
salem for  Western,  and  especially  for  Aquitanian,  pilgrims, 
and  to  give  a short  account  of  the  great  things  that  the 
pilgrim  was  to  see  when  he  had  gone  so  far. 

And  the  notes  of  the  Bordeaux  guide-book,  as  we  have 
pointed  out,  are  not  only  the  first  faint  signs  of  Christian 
interest  in  geographical  movement;  they  are  also  the 
groundwork  of  most  of  the  narratives  of  religious  travel  from 
Latin  Christendom  to  Palestine  during  the  next  three  cen- 
turies. Nearly  all  the  men  who  followed  upon  the  path  of 
our  Gallic  traveller  between  Constantine  and  Heraclius  must 
have  found  his  record  useful ; and  very  few  added  much  to 
its  solid  information.  Its  mistakes  and  confusions  belong 
to  its  character ; we  can  only  be  thankful  there  are  so  few, 
by  comparison  with  those  of  later  devotees : for  the  aims  of 
the  mediaeval  pilgrim  were  simply  devotional,  and  the  form 
or  size  of  the  buildings,  the  exact  appearance  of  the  country, 
which  enshrined  the  objects  of  his  faith,  mattered  little. 
He  lived  in  two  worlds — the  religious  and  the  real, — and  the 
transition  was  easy  from  one  to  the  other ; sometimes  the 
result  was  a curious  blending  of  the  two. 

The  fresh  impulse  given  to  pilgrimage  by  Helena  and  the 
Bordeaux  traveller  is  seen  in  the  traditional  decree  of  Pope 
Sylvester  I.  (335),  which  announced  indulgences  for  all 
pilgrims  to  the  sanctuaries  of  Constantine  in  the  Holy 
Land,  and,  above  all,  to  the  Martyrium,  or  Church  of  the 
Passion,  in  Jerusalem,1  just  visited  by  another  person  of 
importance — Athanasius  of  Alexandria.2 


1 Cf.  Bulla  Pii  IV.,  9 April,  1561. 
Cf.  Lavigerie,  Ste.  Anne  de  Jer.  p. 

10  ; Algiers,  1879.  (But  as  yet  the 
original  is  indiscoverable,  as  Molinier 


notes,  ii.  p.  55.) 

2 Cf.  Theophanes,  Chron.  5827 
(ann.  mund.) ; Eutychius,  Annals 
(Pococke,  i.  165). 


68  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


The  Roman  legates,  Elpidius,  Philoxenus,  and  Gabianus, 
who  in  342  carried  the  letters  of  Pope  Julius  to  Palestine;1 
the  poor  who  flocked  to  Jerusalem  from  all  parts,  as  Eusebius 
declares ; the  other  Eusebius  of  Vercelli,  who  journeyed  to 
the  Holy  Land,  though  under  the  gentle  pressure  of  an 
Arian  persecution,  between  355  and  358  ; 2 Gaudentius  the 
priest,  Syrus  the  deacon,  and  Victorianus  the  exorcist,  who 
accompanied  him:  and  Ursicinus,  another  Gallic  bishop, 
who  followed  in  360 3 — all  witness  to  the  great  advance  of 
intercourse  between  various  parts  of  the  Catholic  world, 
and  particularly  between  the  Levant  and  Western  Europe, 
at  this  time. 

Unfortunately  this  intercourse,  with  rare  exceptions,  did 
not  point  to  anything  beyond  itself;  knowledge  of  the 
world  was  a very  different  thing  from  knowledge  of  the 
holy  sites  : and  the  close  of  the  seventh  century  found  a 
greater  ignorance  of  the  surface,  shape,  and  divisions  of  the 
globe  in  such  great  centres  of  our  Western  civilisation  as 
Rome,  Milan,  Ravenna,  Narbonne,  Bordeaux,  or  Toledo  than 
had  prevailed  at  any  time  since  the  old  pagan  Empire  of  the 
Eternal  City  took  shape  in  the  first  century  before  Christ. 

The  outlook  of  the  early  Church  upon  geography  is 
more  or  less  clearly  indicated  by  a certain  constant  and 
very  suggestive  habit  of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim.  Almost 
-every  site  of  the  Holy  Land  suggests  to  him  some  verse  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  often  he  dwells  upon  the  thought  of 
prophecy  fulfilled.  Isaiah’s  word  is  realised  in  the  syna- 
gogues of  Sion  ploughed  over  and  sown  upon;  the  great 
stone  (seemingly  of  the  south-east  angle)  of  the  temple  wall 


1 Julius,  Ep.  342  ; Mansi,  Conc.ii. 
1211. 

2 Cf.  St.  Ambrose,  Serm.  lvi.,  Ep. 

c. ; Jerome,  De  Viris  Illustrib.  c.  96 ; 
and  tbe  Anonymous  Life  of  St. 


Eusebius. 

3  Gallia  Christiana,  xii.  5;  and 
Eusebius,  Ep.  ad  Presbyteros  et 
plebem  ltaliae  (Migne,  P.  L.  xii. 
947). 


II.] 


PILGRIMAGES  OF  JEROME’S  AGE. 


69 


lias  now,  indeed,  become  tbe  bead  of  tbe  corner,  be  notices 
with  triumph ; tbe  fountain  at  Jericbo  now  performs  wbat 
Elisba  bad  commanded,  and  aids  conception.  Everywhere 
the  traveller  is  haunted  by  bis  prejudices.  Before  be  reaches 
Syria  be  knows  wbat  be  wishes  to  see,  and  be  sees  it  without 
fail.  In  this  there  is  no  true  exploring  spirit : tbe  senti- 
mental interest  of  tbe  past  has  quite  overlaid  tbe  practical 
interest  of  tbe  present.  To  this  habit  of  mind  certain  parts 
of  tbe  world  assume  an  altogether  fictitious  importance,  and 
dwarf  everything  else.  Directly  such  a view,  implicit  in 
tbe  pilgrim-journals,  finds  expression  in  maps  or  formal 
treatises,  we  naturally  have  such  distortions  as  we  find  in 
tbe  “ Psalter,”  “ Hereford,”  and  other  wheel  maps,  where  tbe 
world  centres  round  Palestine ; where  Jerusalem — as  large  as 
Sicily — forms  tbe  bub,  and  tbe  ocean  tbe  hoop,  of  tbe  earth ; 
and  where  tbe  places  and  countries  of  tbe  globe  are  not 
delineated  according  to  actual  relations,  but  according  to 
ideal  importance. 


II.  From  Jerome  to  Justinian — a.d.  370-527. 

Tbe  pilgrim-travellers  of  our  next  group  belong  to  wbat 
may  be  called  tbe  Age  of  Jerome — to  tbe  time  when  this 
great  Father  exercised  so  powerful  an  influence  in  drawing 
devotees  to  tbe  Holy  Land,  and  especially  to  bis  own  cell  at 
Bethlehem.  He  is  tbe  centre  of  all  tbe  religious  exploration 
of  Western  Christians  in  tbe  Bible-coun tries  during  tbe 
last  years  of  tbe  fourth,  and  tbe  early  years  of  tbe  fifth, 
century.  But  he  was  not  only  tbe  leader,  be  was  also  tbe 
candid  friend  of  tbe  pilgrimage  now  so  fashionable.  His 
vehement  exhortations  to  friends  to  retire  from  tbe  world,  in 
Bethlehem  or  some  other  secluded  and  peaceful  hermitage, 
are  a commonplace ; and  we  shall  have  to  notice  some  of 


70  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


them  presently ; but  it  is  often  forgotten  how  vehemently, 
too,  he  insisted  on  the  danger  of  sacred  sight-seeing. 
“ There  is  no  matter  of  praise,”  he  writes  Paulinus,  “ in 
having  been  at  Jerusalem,  but  only  in  having  lived 
religiously  at  Jerusalem.1  But  as  for  those  who  say,  ‘ The 
temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord,’  let  them  hear 
the  apostle’s  words,  4 * * * Ye  are  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  dwelleth  in  you.’  For  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  may  be  reached  from  Britain  even  as  from  Jerusalem.” 
Gregory  of  * Nyssa2went  beyond  Jerome — he  wrote  a tract 
against  indiscriminate  pilgrimage  ; and  St.  Hilarion,  during 
fifty  years’ life  in  Palestine,  boasted  of  having  only  once  visited 
the  sacred  places.  But  these  examples  of  moderation  were 
rare.  Pilgrims  flocked  to  Syria  from  every  country  of  the 
West ; and,  not  content  with  water  from  the  Jordan,  earth 
from  the  Sepulchre,  or  splinters  from  the  Cross,  some  were 
said  to  have  gone  on  into  Arabia  to  see  the  dunghill 8 on  which 
Job  endured  his  sufferings  and  disputed  with  his  friends. 

Nearly  all  these  travellers  go  on  their  journey  by  the 
same  road,  and  stop  at  very  much  the  same  point.  Only  a 


1 Jerome,  Ep.  lviii.  2,  3 ; imitated 
from  Cicero,  Pro  Mursena,  12.  “ Non 
Asiam  nunquam  vidisse,  sed  in  Asia 
continenter  vixisse  laudandum  est.” 

2 “ De  iis  qui  adeunt  Hierosolyma,” 

Works,  ii.  1084-1087  ; cf.  Fabric,  ix. 

120 ; and  Robertson,  Ch.  Hist.  ii.  64, 

65.  Gregory  declared  the  sight  of 

the  holy  places  added  nothing  to  his 
faith,  while  the  desperate  wickedness 
of  their  inhabitants  showed  him  there 

was  no  peculiar  grace  given  to  those 
who  dwelt  there  (contrast  Jer.  Epp. 
xlvi.,  xlvii.). 

In  the  same  way  Claudius  of  Turin, 
the  famous  “ protestant  ” bishop  of 
the  ninth  century,  wrote  against  the 


| pilgrimages  of  his  time  (Migne,  P.  L. 
civ.);  not,  however,  absolutely  con- 
demning them,  as  their  effects  were 
different  with  different  persons.  To 
the  same  effect  speaks  St.  Augustine. 
Do  not  meditate  lengthy  journeys; 
it  is  in  loving,  not  in  journeying  that 
one  travels  to  Him  who  is  every- 
where : [for  the  Lord  has  not  said,  Go 
to  the  East  for  justice,  or  fly  to  the 
West  for  pity].  See  Augustine, 
Epp.  civ.,  lxxviii. ; Serm.  I.  De  Verb. 
Apost.  Petri ; and  Serm.  III.  De 
martyr,  verb  [disputed]. 

3 Chrysostom,  Ad.  pop.  Antioch. 
Horn.  v.  1 (t.  ii.). 


II.] 


PROMINENCE  OF  WOMEN. 


71 


few  have  left  us  any  record  of  their  own  journey ; but  a 
large  number  of  names  are  quoted— for  instance,  in  Jerome’s 
letters — to  prove  the  now  triumphant  attractions  of  religious 
devotion.  And  among  these  pilgrims  of  the  “ second  age,” 
the  first  of  any  importance  is  Jerome  himself  (372),  quickly 
followed  by  Melania  the  elder,1  who  went  to  Jerusalem  in 
373,  and,  as  Jerome  asserts,  gained  the  surname  of  Thecla 
“from  her  virtues  and  miraculous  humility.”  A later 
tradition  adds  the  story  of  her  founding,  with  the  help  of 
her  friend  Rufinus  of  Aquileia,  a monastery  near  Jerusalem, 
in  which  she  lived  herself,  with  fifty  others,  for  seven  and 
twenty  years.2 

One  noticeable  feature  in  the  pilgrim  movement  of 
Jerome’s  age  is  the  prominence  of  women  in  the  same. 
The  fiery  controversialist,  whose  friendships  with  his  fellow- 
men  were  so  strictly  dependent  on  the  agreement  of  their 
opinions  with  his  own,  was  perhaps  never  more  at  ease  than 
with  the  submissive  admiration  of  that  innermost  group  of 
his  Roman  friends,  which  largely  consisted  of  certain  noble 
ladies.  Submissive  we  may  fairly  call  it,  for  Marcella’s 
playful  trick  of  disputing  with  the  Father  about  the  mean- 
ing of  various  texts  was  hardly  more  serious  than  the 
theological  dissent  of  Catherine  Parr  from  the  infallibility  of 
Henry  VIII.  As  time  went  on,  several  members  of  this 
circle  (which  included  Paula  and  her  daughter  Eustochium, 
the  two  Melanias,  Rufinus  the  Church  historian,  and  Fabiola 
a descendant  of  Quintus  Maximus,  all  Pilgrims  in  their  time) 
left  Rome,  and,  not  content  with  visiting  the  Holy  Sites  of 
Palestine,  stayed  there  for  good,  in  cells  and  convents,  often 
constructed  by  their  own  labour  and  at  their  own  expense. 

1 Jerome,  Epp.  iv.,  xxxix.,  xlv.  ; 2 Vincent  of  Beauvais,  Spec.  Hist. 

Cbron.  a.d.  377 ; Paul.  Nola.  Epp.  lib.  xvii.  c.  89  ; xviii.  99 ; xix.  35. 

xxxi.,  xxxii.,  xxviii.,  xxix.,  xlv. 


72  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


Thus  Taula  undertook  the  erection  of  the  great  monastery  at 
Bethlehem  for  Jerome  himself;  Melania  the  elder  devoted 
herself  to  the  service  of  some  exiled 1 monks  at  Sepphoris  ; 
Melania  the  younger  lived  for  fourteen  years  in  a cell  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives  : all  died  in  Syria.  And  some  of  these 
devotees  were  disposed  to  regard  the  fate  of  Marcella  as 
almost  a retribution.  Devout  Christian  as  she  was,  she  had 
hung  back  [from  the  pilgrimage  which  would  have  perfected 
her  virtues ; the  time  went  by,  and  she  perished  in  the  sack 
of  Rome  by  Alaric.  Nor  is  it  wonderful  that  women  such  as 
Paula,  even  apart  from  her  imitation  of  Jerome,  should  have 
found  a home,  for  a season  at  least,  in  the  Levant.  At  one 
time  or  another  she  had  helped  to  entertain  many  of  the  most 
prominent  men  of  the  Eastern  Churches.  Epiphanius  of 
Cyprus,  Paulinus  of  Antioch,  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  Theophilus 
of  Alexandria,  were  all  guest-friends  of  hers,  and  all  seem  to 
have  been  visited  by  her  in  the  course  of  her  pilgrim  journey. 
Family  affliction  was  often  an  important,  sometimes  a 
determining  element  in  the  pilgrimages  of  these  Roman 
ladies.  Just  as  Constantine’s  execution  of  his  son  Crispus,  and 
his  wife  Fausta,  was  probably  an  immediate  cause  of  the  journey 
of  St.  Helena,  so  friends  urged  upon  Paula  the  deaths  of  hus- 
band and  daughter,  and  upon  Marcella  the  loss  of  her  mother, 
as  decisive  reasons  for  seeking  the  consolation  of  pilgrimage. 

The  journey  of  Silvia  of  Aquitaine  was  in  all  likelihood 
connected  with  something  of  the  same  kind ; and  the 
enthusiastic  devotion  of  these  women  in  the  century  that 
elapsed  between  Helena  and  Eudoxia  did  much  to  spread  the 
custom  of  pilgrimage,2  and  to  combat  the  old  prejudice 


1 Exiled  from  Nitria  in  Egypt 
during  the  persecution  of  Valens. 

2 This  prejudice,  however,  con- 
tinued to  be  felt  against  the  specially 
Jewish  site  of  Mount  Moriah  till 


Justinian’s  day,  and  even  he  did  not 
venture  to  build  on  the  site  of  the 
Temple  ; but  raised  his  church  at 
the  south-east  angle  of  the  Noble 
Sanctuary. 


II.] 


SILVIA  OF  AQUITAINE. 


73 


against  Deicidal  Palestine,  against  the  country  that  had 
rejected  and  killed  the  Divine  Saviour  of  mankind. 

But  we  must  now  look  at  the  memoirs  of  Jerome’s  friends 
and  disciples  in  more  detail. 

Another  pilgrim  of  the  same  time  is  Philastrius,  bishop 
of  Brescia,1  whose  visit  is  usually  put  under  the  year  37 5 ; 
but  Julius  Honorius,  writing  in  376  a description  of 
Palestine,  is  not  to  be  counted,  any  more  than  Julius 
iEthicus  or  the  other  and  probably  later  iEthicus  Istricus, 
in  the  roll  of  Christian  travellers,  and  what  he  says  is  only,, 
and  very  slightly,  interesting  to  geographical  science. 

In  380, 2 Caprasius  of  Lerins,  Honoratus,  afterwards 
Archbishop  of  Arles,  and  his  brother,  Yenantius,  who  died 
on  the  way,  may  be  added  to  the  list  of  Gallic  pilgrims ; 
and  about  the  same  time  occurred  the  important  journey  of 
Silvia  of  Aquitaine,  or  whoever  else  is  the  author  of  the 
“ Peregrination  ” that  bears  her  name.3  Among  all  the 
devotees  whose  memoirs  form  our  best  commentary  on 
the  Bordeaux  guide-book,  this  one  is  the  most  enterprising 
and  instructive.  Nearly  half  a century  after  the  first 
Christian  traveller  from  Southern  Gaul  had  described  the 


overland  route  to  Syria  and  the  wonders  of  the  Holy  Land 
for  his  fellow-pilgrims,  another,  starting  from  the  same  part 4 


1 Acta  SS.,  July  iv.  p.  387. 

2 Acta  SS.,  1 June,  i.  p.  78;  16 
Jan.,  ii.  p.  18 ; May,  vii.  p.  241. 

3 Text  first  given  by  Gamurrini, 
1883-7 ; first,  in  English,  by  Bernard, 
in  ed.  of  Pal.  Pilg.  Text  Soc.,  1891. 

4 For  though  the  name  is  con- 
jectural, we  may  be  sure  that  the 
author  of  the  “ Peregrination  ” was  a 
“ Roman  ” from  Southern  Gaul.  Of. 
(1)  the  compaiison  of  the  Euphrates 
with  the  Rhone  (p.  48) ; (2)  the 
words  of  the  Bishop  of  Edt  ssa — “ Be 
extremis  terris  venires  ad  hsec  loca  ” 


(pp.  48,  49) ; (3)  the  explanations  of 
Greek  phrases  in  Latin,  e.g.  pp.  45, 
46,  56 ; (4)  the  use  of  peculiar  words 
and  constructions  of  South-west  Gal- 
lic dialect  of  Latin,  agreeing,  e.g.y 
with  Prosper  of  Aquitaine,  as  quod 
in  sense  of  quando ; eo  quod  for  acc. 
with  injin.  after  verbs  of  narration, 
and  expressions  perdicere,perciccedere , 
consuetudinarius.  Cf.  Wolfflin  and 
Geyer,  Archiv  fur  Lateinische  Lexi- 
kographie,pp.  259, 611 ; andMommsen 
in  Sitzungsberichte  der  Berliner 
Akademie  der  Wissensch.,  1887. 


74  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


of  the  world,  reaches  Palestine  by  way  of  Egypt  and  Arabia, 
after  a series  of  journeys  now  lost  to  us.  It  seems  probable 
that  Silvia  went  by  sea  from  Gaul  to  Egypt,  and  in  the 
same  way  from  Alexandria  to  Constantinople ; and  that  she 
then  made  her  way  by  land  from  the  Bosphorus  through 
Asia  Minor.  What  we  have  left  of  her  journey  discovers 
her  at  “ Sinai,  the  mount  of  God,”  from  whose  summit  the 
pilgrim  saw  “ Egypt  and  Palestine,  and  the  Bed  Sea  and 
the  Parthenian  Sea,  which  leads  to  Alexandria,  and  the 
boundless  territories  of  the  Saracens ; ” from  this  point  she 
journeyed  slowly  through  the  deserts  of  Stony  Arabia  to 
Suez  and  the  land  of  Goshen,  to  Rameses  and  the  “ city 
of  Arabia,” 1 on  the  Red  Sea.  So  far  she  had  been  escorted 
by  a guard  of  Roman  soldiers  ; but  now,  dismissing  these  as 
needless  on  the  great  military  road  from  Pelusium  to  Syria, 
she  pressed  on  to  J erusalem  “ through  the  several  stations 
in  Egypt,  by  which  we  had  formerly  taken  our  course,  . . . 
and  which  I had  seen  when  I was  before  at  Alexandria  and 
in  the  Thebaid.”  2 ? 

Having  spent  some  time  in  the  Holy  City,  Silvia  set  out 
for  Mount  Nebo,  in  Moab,  to  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea. 


1 Page  39  of  original  manuscript. 
“ Arabia  ” is  the  Thuku  of  the  Hiero- 
glyphics, Thou  of  the  Romans ; 
where  the  road  to  Clysma  (Suez),  in 
the  Antonine  itinerary,  left  the  main 
track  from  Memphis  to  Pelusium; 
cf.  Herod,  ii.  158  (.  . . t^v  Apafttriu 

In  Rameses,  Silvia  sees  two 
colossi,  which  she  thinks  are  statues 
of  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  a sycamore 
tree,  planted  by  the  patriarchs,  and 
called  the  “Tree  of  Truth,”  which 
cured  any  one  who  plucked  off  a 
twig  of  it. 

2 The  places  in  Arabia  and  Egypt 
mentioned  by  Silvia  are  (pp.  31-40) 


Sinai  and  Horeb,  The  Bush , Taber  ah, 
“ where  the  children  of  Israel  lusted 
for  food,”  Faran,  Clesma  or  Suez 
( Goshen  Land),  Epauleum  or  Pi- 
hahiroth , Migdol,  Belesfon  or  Baal- 
Zephon,  Oton  or  Etham,  Succoth , 
Pithom,  Heroopolis,  “ where  Joseph 
met  Jacob,  his  father,”  the  city  of 
Arabia,  Rameses , Taphnis  ( Tanis  or 
Zoan , or  possibly  Tahpanhes  (?)),  and 
Pelusium.  It  may  be  noticed  that 
the  pilgrim’s  references  to  the  Old 
Testament  all  follow  the  Septuagint 
pretty  closely,  and  that  she  shows 
no  knowledge  of  the  Vulgate. 


II.] 


SILVIA  ON  MOUNT  NEBO. 


75 


Starting  from  Jerusalem,  “ and  journeying  with  holy  men,” 
she  “ arrived  at  that  place  of  the  Jordan  where  the  children 
of  Israel  had  crossed.”  A little  higher  up  the  river  was  the 
spot  “ where  the  children  of  Reuben  and  Gad  and  the  half- 
tribe of  Manasseh  had  made  an  altar,  where  Jericho  is,”  and 
crossing  the  stream,  the  pilgrim  came  to  the  “ city  called 
Livias,” 1 in  the  “ plain  where  the  children  of  Israel  encamped, 
under  the  mountains  of  Arabia  above  Jordan.”  The  “ foun- 
dations of  that  camp  and  of  the  dwellings  of  the  people  ” 
were  duly  seen,  and  then  the  travellers  went  aside  about  six 
miles  to  see  the  water  flowing  out  of  the  rock  “ which  Moses 
gave  to  the  children  of  Israel,”  before  they  made  the  ascent 
of  Nebo.  The  greater  part  of  the  mountain  could  be  accom- 
plished, they  found,  “ sitting  on  an  ass,”  but  there  was  one 
piece  that  had  to  be  performed  “laboriously  on  foot.”  At 
the  summit  they  were,  of  course,  shown  the  tomb  of  Moses, 
— a comfort  to  weak  brethren  who  might  have  fancied,  as 
Scripture  said,  that  “ no  one  knew  where  he  lay ;”  and  in  the 
prospect  from  the  topmost  peak,  Silvia  saw  the  “ most  part 
of  the  Land  of  Promise,”  and  the  “whole  Jordan  territory 
and  all  the  land  of  the  Sodomites  and  Segor  (Zoar).”  Also 
“ the  place  where  was  the  inscription  about  Lot’s  wife  was 
shown  to  us  : but  believe  me,”  continues  the  pilgrim  with  an 
outburst  of  candour,  “ the  pillar  itself  was  not  visible,  only 
the  place  is  shown.  The  pillar  itself  is  said  to  be  covered  in 
the  Dead  Sea.  We  saw  the  place,  but  no  pillar ; I cannot 
deceive  you  about  this  matter.”  The  bishop  of  the  place, 
however,  said  that  it  was  only  a few  years  since  the  pillar 
was  visible,  and  later  pilgrims  did  not  agree  to  this  quiet 
renunciation  of  a venerable  site;  two  hundred  years  after 
Silvia,  travellers  not  only  saw  and  touched  the  pillar,  but 
knew  all  about  its  past.2 

1 The  Liviada  or  Salamaida  of  I 2 Heshbon(Esebon)of  the  Amorites 
Antoninus  Martyr,  ch.  x.  | and  Sasdra  (Edrei)  the  city  of  Og, 


76  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


After  the  grave  of  Moses,  Silvia  naturally  wished  to  see 
the  grave  of  Job,  in  the  region  of  Ausitis  (Uz).  So  she 
took  her  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Carneas,1  the  city  of  the 
patriarch,  on  the  borders  of  “Idumaea  and  Arabia.”  On 
the  outward  journey  she  passed  the  “ city  of  Melchisedek  ” at 
Salem,  above  the  bank  of  Jordan.  Here  were  to  be  seen 
“ ancient  and  vast  foundations ; ” hard  by  was  the  “ Garden 
of  John  ” (Baptist),  and  the  valley  of  the  Cherith,  where  the 
ravens  fed  Elijah ; while  just  beyond,  the  “ parts  of  Phoe- 
nicia” suddenly  came  into  view,  with  a “lofty  mountain? 
(Hermon  ? ) which  extended  a great  distance.”  In  Carneas 
itself,  all  doubt  about  the  grave  of  Job  had  been  lately  put 
to  silence  by  the  discovery  of  a stone,  found  after  a little 
digging,  with  the  name  of  the  patriarch  neatly  carved  upon  it.V 
Ke turning  again  to  Jerusalem,  and  having  now  seen  all 
the  holy  places,  Silvia  had  a mind  to  visit  her  own  country 
once  more.  But  first  of  all  she  wished,  God  willing,  to  go 
to  Mesopotamia,  for  the  holy  monks  were  said  to  be  numerous 
there,  and  of  such  blameless  life  as  baffled  description. 
Besides  this,  she  longed  to  pray  at  the  tomb  of  St.  Thomas 
at  Edessa.  There  is  no  Christian,  proceeds  Silvia — whose 
religion  at  least  gave  her  the  resolution  to  travel  where  few 
women,  at  any  time,  would  have  cared  to  venture — there  is  no 
pilgrim  who  has  journeyed  as  far  as  Jerusalem,  and  does  not 
also  wend  his  way  thither  (to  Edessa).3  “ And  since  from 


king  of  Bashan,  were  also  pointed 
out  from  the  Mount  of  Promise,  as 
well  as  the  Hill  of  Balak  and  Balaam, 
and  the  delighted  but  unsatisfied 
wanderers  now  returned  for  a short 
breathing  space,  to  Jerusalem  (pp. 
41-43). 

1 “ Formerly  called  Dennaba,”  the 
Dinhabah  of  Gen.  xxxvi.  32,  and 
really  in  Bashan;  apparently  Ash- 
taroth-Carnaim,  near  the  “home  of 
Job”  at  Sheikh  Saad.  It  was  the 


traditional  belief  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians that  Uz  lay  at  this  site,  where 
Job’s  stone  is  still  shown,  and  not  in 
Edom  or  in  Arabia  proper  where  the 
O.T.  “ Land  of  Uz  ” must  be  looked 
for.  (Of.  Wilson,  appendix  to  edition 
of  Silvia  in  P.P.T.S.,  p.  146.) 

8 Cp.  pp.  44-47. 

3 Cf.  Cureton,  “ Early  Syriac  Docu- 
ments relating  to  Christianity  in 
Edessa.” 


II.] 


SILYIA  IN  MESOPOTAMIA. 


77 


Antioch  it  is  nearer  to  Mesopotamia,  it  was  convenient  for 
me,  as  I was  returning  to  Constantinople,  and  my  way  was 
through  Antioch,  that  I should  go  from  thence.” 1 

So  she  set  out,  and  travelled  through  the  stations  of 
Ccelesyria  and  Augusta  Eufratensis,  to  Hierapolis.  Fifteen 
miles  further  she  reached  the  “ great  river  Euphrates,  rushing 
down  in  a torrent  like  the  Ehone,  but  greater  ; ” and  passing 
this,  and  entering  Mesopotamia,  came  to  Bathanis,  or  Bathnse 
in  Osrhoene,  a “ place  swarming  with  inhabitants ; ” and 
finally  to  Edessa,  the  city  of  Thomas  the  Apostle,  and  of 
Abgarus,  the  correspondent  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  “memorial”  of  Thomas,  Silvia  found,  had  been 
lately  rebuilt  (viz.  under  Valens,  in  a.d.  372);  and  in  the 
palace  of  King  Abgar  she  saw  a statue  of  the  prince  in 
marble,  “ which  shone  as  it  were  of  pearl,”  and  the  letters 
that  had  been  sent  “ by  the  Lord  to  him,  and  by  him  to  our 
Lord.”  Already  the  story  was  full  grown,  of  the  immunity 
of  the  city  from  all  hostile  attack  by  the  virtue  of  these 
relics  : the  letter  of  Christ  had  cast  darkness  upon  the  eyes 
of  the  Persians  when  they  came  to  besiege  it ; and  the  same 
power  had  caused  fountains  of  water  to  burst  forth  in  the 
town  and  supply  the  besieged  in  their  need.  All  this  was 
explained  by  the  bishop  to  Silvia,  who  had  known  some- 
thing of  it  before,  “ but  indeed  the  account  I received  here 
is  more  full.”  Copies  of  the  sacred  letters  she  already  had 
in  her  country,  but  now  she  had  gained  a whole  commentary 
upon  their  meaning.  For  “ blessed  is  the  stronghold  wherein 
thou  abidest,  Edessa,  mother  of  wise  men,  which  by  the 
living  mouth  of  the  Son  was  blessed ; this  blessing  shall 
abide  in  her  till  the  holy  one  be  revealed.”  2 

After  three  days  in  Edessa,  Silvia,  “ still  advancing,” 

1 Cp.  pp.  47,  48.  I (Assemani’s  ed.  ii.  399).  Cureton 

2 Ephraem  Syrus,  Testament  | Syriac  Docs.  152. 


78  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 

went  on  to  Abraham’s  Charrte,  or  Haran,  a city  where,  except 
clergy  and  monks,  “ all  were  heathen.” 1 Still  it  was  not 
deficient  in  relics — the  “ house  of  Abram  ; ” the  wells  of 
Rebekah  and  Eliezer,  of  Rachel  and  Jacob ; and  the  “ farm  ” 
of  Laban  the  Syrian.  These  only  whetted  the  pilgrim’s  appe- 
tite for  more  : and  she  asked  for  “ that  part  of  the  Chaldees 
where  Terah  dwelt  first  with  his  family.”  But  here,  at 
last,  her  energy  was  checked ; the  place  was  only  ten  stations 
off,  by  way  of  Nisibis,  but  there  was  “ no  access  for  Romans,” 
for  “ Persians  held  all  the  country  ” since  Julian’s  fatal 
attack  in  the  summer  of  363.2  To  atone  for  this  dis- 
appointment, Silvia  feasted  her  eyes  on  the  great  stone  that 
Jacob  rolled  away  from  Rachel’s  well,  on  the  home  of  Laban 
in  Fadana  (Padan-Aram),  on  the  place  where  Rachel  stole 
her  father’s  idols,  and,  above  all,  on  the  “ unheard  of  piety  ” 
of  the  monks  and  solitaries,  living  all  around. 

Here  Silvia  had  gone  more  than  2000  miles  from  her 
home,  reaching  the  extreme  limits  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  in  one  or  two  places  actually  passing  them,  both  in 
Arabia  and  Mesopotamia.  She  had  now  spent  quite  four 
years  in  travel,  and  yet  had  no  intention  of  giving  up  her 
quest.  Her  religious  enthusiasm  is  unbounded : everywhere 
she  seeks  out  clergy  and  monks,  whose  condescension 
amazes  her — they  deign  with  willing  mind  to  receive  her 
insignificant  self,  to  guide  her  from  one  point  to  another, 
to  admit  her  to  salutation,  all  undeserved,  to  show  her  the 
holy  relics  and  the  famous  sites.  Yet  she  must  have  been  a 


1 Page  51.  A very -unusual  notice 

with  Silvia,  who  always  consorts  with 
the  Christian  clergy,  and  has  no  deal- 
ings with  the  natives,  never  alluding, 
for  instance,  to  the  lay  population  of 
Syria,  Egypt,  Palestine,  and  Asia 
Minor,  except  in  the  case  of  a few 


garrison  towns  and  forts  and  some 
titles  of  provincial  governors. 

2 The  words  of  her  guide,  “Modo 
ibi  accessus  Romanorum  non  est,”  by 
themselves  imply  that  this  part  of 
the  country  had  only  been  lost  very 
recently,  pp.  52,  53. 


II.] 


SILYIA’S  MERITS. 


79 


person  of  consideration 1 — her  Roman  escort  in  Arabia,  the 
frequent  kindnesses  of  governors,  the  attentions  of  bishops, 
all  seem  to  prove  this : as  she  herself  confesses,  the  way 
was  made  smooth  to  her ; “ everywhere  she  saw  what  she 
purposed.”  In  rank  she  is  probably  a parallel  case  to  the 
noble  Roman  matron,  Paula,  the  friend  of  Jerome : but  in 


travel  for  religion’s  sake,  as  we  have  said  before,  she  scarcely 
has  an  equal  among  these  early  Christian  pilgrims.2  Scarcely 
any  other  takes  us  to  so  many  different  parts  of  the  East 
“ for  love  of  the  Faith  and  of  the  monks ; ” scarcely  any  other 
conforms  so  little  to  the  accepted  types,  which  most  pilgrims 
reproduced  with  only  an  addition  of  legendary  wonders. 

Through  the  mist  of  marvel  and  miracle  in  which  Silvia, 
like  other  devotees,  continually  moved  we  are  generally 
able  to  perceive  some  solid  ground  of  fact,  some  actual  piece 
of  travel  accomplished.  Even  her  credulity  is  more  restrained 
than  the  ordinary  traveller’s.  Her  distortions  of  fact  are  less 
violent : the  wilder  legends,  as  in  the  case  of  the  pillar  of  Lc\*s 
wife,  she  either  omits  or  expressly  denies.  Had  all  our  records 
of  religious  travel  been  written  by  persons  of  her  own  class, 
who  had  enjoyed  some  of  the  profane  learning  and  worldly 
enlightenment  lacking  in  many  of  the  pilgrims,  we  should 
have  a very  different  light  upon  the  path  we  are  following. 


1 On  these  grounds,  Gamurrini 
has  suggested  that  our  author  was 

St.  Silvia,  of  Aquitaine,  a sister  of 
Rufinus,  Prefect  of  the  East  under 
Theodosius  I.,  whose  journey  from 
Jerusalem  to  Egypt  is  recorded  in 
the  “ Historia  Lausiaca”  of  Palladius. 
But  that  ascetic,  who  boasts  (Hist. 
Laus.  p.  143)  of  not  having  washed 
for  sixty  years,  except  the  finger  tips 
for  communion,  and  never  travelled 
in  a litter,  presents  some  inconsis- 
tencies with  the  writer  of  this  pere- 
grination, who  would  have  gone  up 


Mount  Sinai  in  a chair  if  she  could 
(p.  32),  and  rode  up  the  last  part  of 
Mount  Nebo  on  an  ass  (p.  42). 

2 “ From  the  portion  which  alone  is 
left  to  us,  it  seems  probable  that  the 
peregrination  as  a whole  furnished 
a more  clear,  intelligent,  exten- 
sive, and  independent  account  of 
the  Christian  holy  lands  than  any 
other  writing  of  this  class  and 
time.”  See  Geyer,  Kritische  Bemer- 
kungen,  1890 ; Comptes  rendues  Ac. 
Inscr.  et  B.  L.,  1885. 


SO  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


But  to  return.  Haran  was  Silvia’s  furthest:  from  this 
point  she  made  her  way  hack  to  Antioch,  and  so  by  the  great 
military  road 1 through  Tarsus,  Isauria,  Cappadocia,  Galatia, 
and  Bithynia — “provinces  I had  passed  through  on  my 
outward  journey.”  At  times  she  was  in  some  danger  from 
the  brigand  Isaurians,  as  she  had  been  before  from  the 
Bedouin  Saracens,  both  being  “ very  mischievous  and  given 
to  robbery ; ” but  she  escaped  with  persistent  good  fortune, 
although,  to  visit  a famous  shrine,  she  was  always  ready  to 
run  risks  that  most  pilgrims  would  have  shunned.  Finally, 
when  safely  housed  in  Constantinople,  she  registers  a vow, 
after  worshipping  in  the  churches  of  the  imperial  city, 
to  “ go  to  Asia  ” (and  especially  to  Ephesus),  for  a further 
pilgrimage ; and  if,  after  this,  she  were  still  in  the  body  and 
able  to  acquaint  herself  “ with  any  more  of  the  (holy)  places,” 
she  promises  to  keep  a full  record  of  the  same  for  the  benefit 
of  the  sisterhood  in  Gaul,  whom  she  had  left  to  come  to  the 
BJ^st,  and  for  whose  benefit  she  writes. 

The  rest  of  her  home  letter  is  entirely  taken  up  with  an 
account  of  the  services  and  ritual  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem, 
especially  during  holy  week,  and  in  the  course  of  this  we 
find  one  of  the  earliest  references  to  the  festival  of  “ Palm  ” 
Sunday  and  to  the  Christian  use  of  incense.  In  all  this 
we  cannot  follow  St.  Silvia — although  this  latter  part  of 
her  book  is  of  as  much  value  to  students  of  liturgies  and 
ceremonial  as  the  earlier  part  is  to  students  of  geogra- 
phy,— except  to  notice  that  the  pillar  of  scourging,  the  holy 
wood  of  the  Cross,  Solomon’s  ring,  the  horn  of  anointing,  and 
the  various  churches  of  Constantine’s  building  are  mentioned 
among  the  sights  of  most  importance  to  the  worshipper  in 
the  Holy  City.2 

1 The  route  of  the  Bordeaux  pil-  I 2 The  “ great  accuracy  ” of  Silvia’s 
grim.  Cf.  Silvia,  54,  55.  | account  of  Sinai  has  led  Sir  C.  W. 


II.] 


JEROME’S  FINAL  VISIT  TO  PALESTINE. 


81 


Silvia’s  journey  may  be  fixed,  as  we  have  said,  to  the 
years  between  379  and  385.1  At  this  latter  date,  Jerome 
was  in  Palestine  for  the  second  time,  and  settled  at  Bethle- 
hem,2 where  he  became  the  leader,  guide,  and  friend  of  all 
Western  pilgrims,  their  chief  correspondent,  their  principal 
attraction.  His  fiery  appeals  gave  a new  impulse  to  religious 
travel,  and  the  presence  of  such  a figure,  “ glorious  through- 
out the  world,”  3 and  directing,  to  a great  extent,  the  fortunes 
of  the  whole  Church  from  a cell  in  Judsea,  could  not  possibly 
have  been  ignored  by  any  visitor  to  the  Holy  Land  in  the 
next  thirty  years  (385-415). 

Sabinian  the  Deacon,  from  Italy  (about  390),  though  an 
unsatisfactory  sort  of  Christian,  according  to  Jerome ; Paula 
and  Eustochium  from  Rome  (386),  invited  by  the  saint  of 


Wilson,  perhaps,  to  attach  overmuch 
topographical  importance  to  her  tra- 
vels in  Egypt  (on  the  other  side  is 
Naville;  cf.  his  Goshen,  pp.  19,  20), 
but  all  her  descriptions  unques- 
tionably bear  the  mark  of  personal 
experience.  She  saw  all  the  places 
she  writes  about,  and  very  probably 
“compiled  her  account  from  notes 
written  on  the  ground.” 

1  Several  reasons  for  this  may  be 
pointed  out ; as,  e.g. — 

1.  The  allusion  to  Persians  hold- 
ing all  the  country  about  Nisibis  (pp. 
52,  53)  seems  to  point,  as  already 
noticed,  to  a date  later  than  363, 
when  this  territory  was  ceded  to  the 
Persians  by  Jovian ; and  the  wording 
of  the  passage,  “ Modo  ibi  accessus 
Romanorum  non  est,”  makes,  as  we 
have  seen,  for  a recent  transfer  of 
possession. 

2.  The  church  of  St.  Thomas  of 
Edessa,  described  as  “ newly  rebuilt  ” 
(nova  dispositione),  was  finished 
under  Valens,  a.d.  372. 


3.  Edessa  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
East  was  quiet  when  she  visited  it. 
This  would  make  it  probable  she  was 
there  after  Valens’s  persecution  of  the 
Catholics,  ended  by  his  death  in  378. 

4.  The  Bishop  of  Edessa,  men- 
tioned as  a confessor  (p.  48),  was 
probably  Eulogius,  who  died  in 
387-8,  and  had  been  put  out  of  his 
see  by  Valens.  Cyrus,  his  successor, 
suffered  no  persecution  whereby  he 
could  gain  this  title.  He  translated 
the  tomb  of  St.  Thomas  to  the  great 
church  in  394 ; whereas  Silvia  seems 
to  make  the  “ martyrium  ” quite  dis- 
tinct, as  would  be  the  case  of  a 
visitor  arriving  before  394. 

5.  There  is  no  mention  of  Jerome, 
who  settled  permanently  in  Palestine 
in  385,  and  was  the  m an  object  of 
interest  to  all  pilgrims  from  that  time. 

2 Cf.  Jerome’s  Epp.  xiv.,  Ixxiv., 
cxvii.,  lxvi.,  lxxxi.,  lxxxii. 

3 Prosper  of  Aquitaine,  Chron.  pt. 
ii. ; cf.  Migne,  P.  L.  li.  c.  586. 


G 


82  THE  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM. 

Bethlehem  in  his  usual  fervent  style — for  whether  in  love 
or  hate,  Jerome  left  nothing  to  be  desired  in  the  cordial 
vehemence  of  his  language ; — and  Gaudentius,  bishop  of 
Brescia,  who  visited  Jerusalem  about  390,  were  all  repre- 
sentative of  this  new  “ Hieronymic  ” class  of  pilgrims.1 

And  of  these  journeys,  that  of  Paula  and  Eustochium 
(386)  is  especially  commemorated  in  the  “ Letter  to  Mar- 
cella about  the  holy  places.”  The  chief  point  of  this  is  a 
rhetorical  justification  of  pilgrimage.  What  man  could 
learn  Greek  or  Latin  properly  without  a stay  in  Athens  or 
in  Borne  ? What  Christian  could  be  reckoned  a master  in 
religion  without  a visit  to  the  Holy  Land?  This  was  felt 
by  every  one.  “ Whoever  may  be  a leading  man  in  Gaul, 
hastens  thither  [to  Palestine].  Even  the  Briton,  separated 
as  he  is  from  our  world,  seeks  the  place  known  to  him 
by  general  report  as  well  as  by  the  word  of  the  Scriptures. 
And  why  should  we  speak  of  Armenians,  of  Persians,  of  the 
peoples  of  India  and  Ethiopia,  of  Egypt,  fertile  in  monks, 
of  Pontus  and  Cappadocia,  of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  who 
come  by  one  accord  to  these  sacred  places,  according  to  the 
Saviour’s  word,  ‘ Wheresoever  the  body  is,  there  shall  the 
eagles  be  gathered  together.’  ” 2 

The  language,  indeed,  of  this  pilgrim  host  is  different, 
but  the  religion  is  one.  Holier,  indeed,  is  this  place, 
continues  the  letter,  speaking  more  narrowly  of  Bethlehem, 
than  the  Tarpeian  Bock  at  Borne,  so  often  struck  by 
lightning — an  evidence  of  the  wrath  of  God.  The  virtue 
of  Palestine  must  atone  for  the  wickedness  of  Italy.  Pagan 
Borne  was  the  Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse ; and  though  the 
Church  of  the  Eternal  City  had  the  trophies  of  apostles  and 

J uly  iv.  383. 

2 cc.  1,  2.  (Jer.,  Ep.  xcvi.) 


1 Cf.  Jer.,  Epp.  xlv.,  lxxxvi.,  cxlvii., 
etc. ; Gaudentius,  Sermon  xvii.,  in 
Migne,  P.L.  xx.  964;  Acta  Sanctorum, 


II.] 


PAULA’S  INVITATION  TO  MARCELLA. 


83 


martyrs,  the  true  confession  of  Christ,  and  the  faith  preached 
by  his  messenger,  yet  the  size,  and  stir,  and  distractions  of 
so  great  a place  were  enemies  to  the  life  and  peace  of  a monk. 
But  here,  in  Bethlehem,  in  Christ’s  village,  was  “ nothing 
but  quiet  country  life,  a quiet  unbroken  except  by  psalms.” 
A Puritan  might  have  envied  the  picture  that  is  drawn 
to  attract  Marcella.  It  is  like  a realised  kingdom  of  the 
saints.  “ Wheresoever  you  turn,  the  ploughman,  holding  his 
plough,  sings  loudly  his  ‘Alleluia.’  The  sweating  reaper 
diverts  himself  with  psalms,  and  the  vine-dresser,  as  he  lops 
the  vine  with  his  sickle,  chants  something  of  King  David’s.1 
These  are  our  love-songs  here,  these  are  our  pastorals,;  our 
weapons  in  our  war  of  husbandry.”  Cannot  such  a prospect 
draw  Marcella  from  the  throng  of  Borne  ? Would  it  not  be 
glorious  to  visit  the  Lord’s  tomb  together,  to  weep  with 
sister  and  mother,  to  ascend  with  the  risen  Christ  from 
Mount  Olivet,  to  pray  in  the  tomb  of  David  and  of  Abraham, 
to  set  eyes  upon  the  Jordan,  to  adore  the  ashes  of  John 
Baptist  and  of  Elisha,  to  kiss  the  wood  of  the  Cross  ? 2 

What  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim  had  left  unnoticed,  Paula 
invites  Marcella  to  do — to  go  to  Nazareth  and  “see  the 
flower  of  Galilee,”  to  Tabor  and  “visit  the  tabernacles 
not3  of  Peter,”  to  set  eyes  upon  the  Sea  of  Gennesareth 
and  the  town  of  Nam,  the  hill  of  Hermonim  and  the  torrent 
of  Kishon;  above  all,  upon  Capernaum,  the  favoured  spot 
of  the  Lord’s  miracles.4 

Paula  and  Eustochium  have  seen  all  this,  and  their  tract 
on  the  holy  places  is  simply  an  “open  letter”  to  Latin 
Christendom,  addressed  to  one  intimate  friend  by  name, 


1  Elsewhere  Jerome  gives  an  ac- 

count of  a storm  at  Bethlehem,  which 

draws  a different  picture  of  the 

;State  of  the  city. 


2 cc.  3-7. 

3 A “ non  ” expunged  by  later  pil- 
grims. 

4 0,  8.  See  Delpit,  pp.  116-129. 


84  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


but  looking  beyond  this  to  a general  migration  of  Catholic 
Christians  to  the  old  home  of  their  religion. 

Nearly  twenty  years  after  the  writing  of  this  appeal, 
Paula’s  own  journey  to  the  holy  places,  upon  which  the 
same  appeal  was  based,  is  separately  and  lengthily  described 
by  Jerome  himself.1  The  saint’s  friendship  with  this 
enthusiastic  and  high-born  lady,  like  Hildebrands  with 
Countess  Matilda,  was  famous  throughout  the  Christian 
world  of  that  day,  and  seemed  to  satisfy  the  monastic  ideal 
of  a spiritual  marriage,  a higher  state  than  the  physical 
union  of  the  sinful  children  of  this  world. 

Paula  had  given  up  “houses,  lands,  and  children,”  for 
“ the  gospel’s  sake,”  and  in  spite  of  the  appeals  of 
“ brother,  friends,  and  son,”  embarked  at  Rome  for  Palestine, 
with  a “piety  not  to  be  conquered  by  entreaties.”  With 
Eustochium,  her  only  companion,  she  passed  the  island  of 
Pontia,  celebrated  as  the  prison  of  “ that  noblest  of  women, 
Flavia  Domitilla,”  under  the  Domitian  persecution,  and 
sailing  by  Rhodes  and  Cyprus,  touched  the  Syrian  coast  at 
Seleucia,  the  port  of  Antioch.  From  this  point  she  followed 
the  route  of  the  Bordeaux  guide-book  along  the  coast, 
“ admiring  the  ruins  of  Dor,  a city  once  most  powerful,”  and 
visiting  Joppa,  famous,  “ from  the  fables  of  the  poets,”  for 
the  rock  of  Andromeda.  Thence,  going  up  the  country  to 
Jerusalem,  the  Roman  pilgrim  passed  Bethoron,  Ajalon, 
and  Gibeon,  “ where  Joshua  fought  with  five  kings,  and  gave 
orders  to  the  sun  and  moon ; ” and  was  welcomed  in  the 
Holy  City,  as  a lady  of  noble  rank,  by  the  governor,  “ who 
knew  her  family  right  well.”  She  visited  the  Sepulchre, 
the  relics  of  the  Cross,  the  column  of  scourging ; 2 and,  going 


1 Ep.  lxxxvi.  [=  108  in  Migne], 
written  in  404 ; referring  apparently 
to  journeys  of  385-6. 

2 At  this  very  time  Prudentius 


was  celebrating  in  his  verses  (Dit- 
tocheum,  121-124)  the  “corner-stone 
of  the  first  temple,  which  survived 
the  ruin  of  the  second.” 


II.] 


PAULA’S  PEREGRINATION. 


85 


on  to  Bethlehem,  declared,  in  Jerome’s  hearing,  that  she 
“saw  with  the  eyes  of  faith”  the  Divine  child  in  the 
manger,  the  magi,  the  shepherds,  the  star,  and  all  the 
wonders  of  the  gospel  of  the  childhood,  as  if  actually  before 
her  sight.  From  Bethlehem,  Paula  moved  on  to  Hebron, 
and  stood  by  Abraham’s  oak,  “beneath  which  he  saw  the 
day  of  Christ  and  was  glad ; ” then,  by  Engedi  and  Mount 
Olivet,  to  Jericho  and  the  “ hill  of  circumcision.”  After 
this,  in  Central  Palestine,  the  “peregrination”  began  to 
take  something  of  a more  marvellous  character.  While  in 
Samaria,  Jerome’s  friend,  in  her  own  words,  saw  “devils 
writhing  and  yelling  in  different  kinds  of  torture ; and  men, 
before  the  tombs  of  the  saints,  howling  like  wolves,  barking 
like  dogs,  roaring  like  lions,  hissing  like  serpents,  bellowing 
like  bulls.  Here  women  also  had  hung  themselves  up  by 
the  feet.” 1 She  prayed  for  these  unfortunates,  and  went  on 
into  Galilee,  where,  says  Jerome,  “ daylight  would  fail  me 
sooner  than  words,  if  I were  to  go  over  all  the  sites  that 
venerable  Paula  now  came  to  with  a devotion  beyond 
belief.”  So  he  brings  her,  with  a stroke  of  the  pen,  to 
Egypt,  Alexandria,  and  Nitria,  the  “home  of  monks,”  on 
which  last  name  the  saint  puns  a little : “ Nitria,  in  whose 
pure  nitre  of  heavenly  virtues  the  stains  of  many  are  daily 
washed  away.” 

Here  Paula  was  in  her  element,  and  she  revelled  in 
monastic  humilities.  “ Whose  cell  did  she  not  enter  ? At 
whose  feet  did  she  not  cast  herself?  ” Here,  “ forgetful  of  her 
sex  and  weakness,”  she  would  have  stayed,  had  not  the  long- 
ing for  the  soil  of  Palestine  drawn  her  back  to  Bethlehem, 

Yet  we  may  remember  that  while  so  large  a proportion  of 
the  Christian  world  was  devoting  itself  to  religious  ecstacies, 


1 Cf.  cc.  15,  16 ; Delpit,  “ Essai  sur  les  Anciens  Pelerinages,”  pp.  96-116. 


86  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 

the  Empire  was  breaking  up.  Six  years  after  Jerome’s  first 
visit  to  Palestine,  the  Goths  overthrew  Valens  at  Adrianople 
(378) ; less  than  ten  years  before  Jerome’s  death,  Alaric 
sacked  Rome  (411).  The  saint  of  Bethlehem  himself  admits 
that  the  inroads  of  the  Barbarians  had  largely  increased  the 
number  of  the  religious  travellers,  and  especially  of  those 
ladies  from  Rome,  who  now  “filled  all  the  cities”  of  the 
Levant.  The  pilgrim  movement  that  he  championed  may 
have  been  towards  a heavenly  country ; but  it  hardly 
strengthened  the  defence  of  his  earthly  fatherland.  To  his 
pagan  enemies,  it  seemed  as  if  the  “ worship  of  the  cross  had 
eaten  out  patriotism.” 1 

After  Paula’s  journey,  news  from  the  far  West  came  to 
Palestine  again  with  Eusebius  of  Cremona,  who  seems  to 
have  visited  Jerome  about  the  year  394,  and  with  the  letters 
he  brought  from  Amandus,  presbyter  of  Bordeaux ; 2 while, 
in  his  next  budget  of  letters  (under  the  year  395-6),  the 
hermit  of  Bethlehem  notices 3 the  arrival  of  Eabiola  and 
Oceanus  from  Rome,  of  Vigilantius  from  Gaul,  and  of 
Paulus  and  Sysinnius  from  North  Africa  (397  ?).  In  398 
Zenon  the  shipmaster  brought  Jerome  letters  from  Italy, 
but  hardly  seems  to  have  made  a pilgrimage.  As  a letter- 
carrier,  the  saint  complains,  he  had  been  grossly  remiss. 

Next  year  some  copyists 4 came  over  from  Spain  (399)  to 
help  Jerome  in  his  work : in  400  Theodorus,  returning  from 
Alexandria  to  Rome,  visits  the  great  doctor  of  the  Roman 


1  Nor  was  Jerome  the  only  famous 

counsellor  of  pilgrims  and  pilgrimages 

in  this  age.  In  the  same  spirit,  and 

about  the  same  time,  St.  John  Chry- 
sostom, while  at  Antioch,  indulged 
in  vigorous  pulpit  exhortation  to  in- 
tending or  reluctant  visitants,  and  in 
warm  commendation  of  those  who 


had  performed  the  duty.  Cf.  Migne, 
P.  G.,  lvii.  74 ; lv.  221,  242,  274';  and 
xlix.  191. 

2 Jer.  Epp.  lvii.,  liv.,  lv. 

3 Epp.  lxxvii.,  lviii.,  lxi.,  cii.,  cv., 
lxxii. 

4 Jer.  Ep.  lxxv.  (Migne,  P.  L.  xxii. 
c.  688). 


II.] 


ALEXIUS  AND  OTHER  PILGRIMS,  380-400. 


87 


Church  at  Bethlehem,  and  Yincentius,  the  priest  of  that 
same  Church,  who  had  accompanied  J erome 1 on  his  second 
pilgrimage  in  385,  is  again  heard  of  in  Palestine.  About 
the  same  time,  Alexius  of  Rome,2  according  to  a doubtful 
story,  travels  to  Edessa,  adores  the  miraculous  napkin,  and 
is  found  by  his  own  children  sitting  among  the  beggars  of 
the  town — found,  but  not  recognised.  An  extraordinary 
amount  of  interest  was  roused  by  the  journey  of  Alexius  : 
later  authorities  brought  him  to  J erusalem  ; poems  in  Latin 
German,  and  French,  of  various  metres,  celebrated  his 
humility ; and  a whole  group  of  English  “ Alexius  legends  ” 
took  shape  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  in 
material  interesting  to  philologists. 

The  journey  of  Postumianus,3  in  or  about  the  same  year 
400,  which  saw  so  great  a concourse  of  pilgrims  wending 
their  way  to  Syria — from  Harbonne  to  Carthage,  from 
Carthage  to  Alexandria,  from  Alexandria  to  Bethlehem 
and  Jerusalem, — is  one  more  witness  to  the  importance  of 
Jerome’s  stay  in  the  Holy  Land  as  a point  d’appui  for 
pilgrims ; and  the  same  is  proved  by  his  complaints  of  the 
constant  flow  of  letters  to  him  from  the  West,  and  the 
demands  for  his  full  and  immediate  answer  to  one  and  all.4 

The  early  years  of  the  fifth  century,  like  the  closing 
years  of  the  fourth,  show  St.  Jerome’s  influence  at  its 
height.5  Frequent  notices  are  preserved  of  the  intercourse 
between  Rome,  Hippo  Regius,  Alexandria  and  Bethlehem 


1 Jer.  Ep.  lxxxviii. 

2 Acta  SS.,  Jul.  iv.  pp.  238-270,  esp. 
p.  252;  and  Vita  S.  Alex.  (Anony- 
mous), It.  Hi.  ii.  97-106. 

3 Migne,  P.  L.  xx.  183,  etc. 

4 “Uno  ad  Oecidentem  navigandi 
tempore  tantse  a me  simul  epistolse 

flagilantur,  ut  si  cuncta  ad  singulos 
velim  rescribe  re,  occurrere  nequeam  ” 


(Jer.  Epp  lxxxv.). 

5  Avienus’  (c.  401-450)  description 
of  the  Holy  Land,  in  the  course  of 
his  Descriptio  Orbis  terrse,  has  no  con- 
cern with  pilgrim-travel.  But  see 
the  note  of  Marcus  Diaconus,  in  his 
Vita  S.  Porphyrii,  on  “ iEgyptii  Mer- 
catores  ” (c.  viii.  § 58;  Acta  SS.  Feb. 
iii.  655). 


88  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


during  these  years,1  and  in  one  letter  2 3 the  saint  alludes  to 
monks  from  India,  Persia,  and  Ethiopia  arriving  daily  in 
the  Holy  City  and  its  neighbourhood  in  such  numbers  as  to 
cause  some  confusion.  Thus,  in  403,  one  Firmus,8  a priest, 
brings  a letter  from  the  women  of  the  nation  of  the  Getae, 
outside  or  barely  on  the  borders  of  the  Roman  world.4 

About  this  time  (405)  occurs,  moreover,  an  apparently 
independent  pilgrimage  from  the  extreme  north-west  of 
Spain.  Turribius,  a bishop  of  Astures  in  Galicia,5  near 
Cape  Finisterre,  went  to  Jerusalem,  was  entrusted  by  the 
patriarch  with  the  charge  of  some  relics,  and,  learning  in  a 
dream  that  the  Holy  City  would  fall  into  the  hands  of 
unbelievers,  carried  them  off — with  or  without  the  consent 
of  the  patriarch,  does  not  appear — and  housed  them  in  a 
shrine  at  the  Monte  Sacro  of  his  own  native  district  (S.  Maria 
de  Monte  Sacro).6 

In  406  three  visitors  from  distant  parts  are  noticed  in 
Jerome’s  letters : Sisinnius,  a Spaniard,  sent  by  Exuperius, 
bishop  of  Toledo  ; 7 Ausonius  a Dalmatian  ; and  Apodemius 
a Gaul,  “from  the  furthest  parts  thereof,”  who  came  to 
Bethlehem  by  way  of  Rome.  In  409  a second  visit  of 
Melania  is  recorded,8  and  another  attempt,  not  fully  accom- 
plished, of  Rufinus  of  Aquileia ; an  impassioned  exhortation 
to  pilgrimage,  dating  from  the  same  year,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  letters  of  Paulinus  of  Nola.9 

Next  comes  a journey  of  Avitus 10  the  Spaniard  (of  Braga), 


1 E.g.  Jer.,  Epp.  xcix.,  cxiv.,  cxii., 
cvii. 

2 Ep.  cvii 

3 Jer.  Ep.  cvi. 

4 The  same  Firmus  seems  to  have 
been  employed  later  (in  405)  in  the 
correspondence  between  Jerome  and 
Augustin^  ; Jer.  Epp.  cxv\,  cxxxiv. ; 
Aug.  Ep.  lxxxii. 

5 Brev.  Abt.  Vetus  (Acta  SS.  16 


Apr.  ii.  422). 

6 The  fame  of  this  exploit  was 
especially  preserved  at  Palentia ; L. 
M.  Siculus,  Jib.  v.  De  rebus  Hispanicis. 

7 Prsefatio  in  Zach. ; Jer.  Epp. 
cxix.,  cxviii.,  cxx. 

8 Paul.  Nol.  Epp.  xxix.,  xxxi. 

9 P.  N.  Ep.  xlix. 

10  Migne,  P.  L.  xxxi.  1214,  li.  913, 
lviii.  1085. 


II.] 


PELAGIUS,  OROSIUS,  MELANIA. 


89 


reported  by  Orosius  in  409  or  410 ; in  411  occurred  an 
attack  of  the  Saracens1  upon  Palestine,  which  now  seems 
ominous  in  the  light  of  later  history ; in  412  came  the 
famous  visit  of  Pelagius,  the  British  heresiarch,  famous, 
however,  mainly  in  the  story  of  theological  controversy.2 

In  414  a company  of  noble  women  from  Gaul  was 
compelled  by  “ fierce  storms  of  enemies  ” to  go  “ through 
Africa  ” to  the  Holy  Land ; 3 and,  in  415,  Paulus  Orosius,  the 
historian,  the  friend  of  Augustine,  the  “ religiosus  Juvenis  ” 
of  his  Epistles,  who  had  been  in  Palestine  already  during 
the  time  of  Pelagius’  visit,  passed  to  and  fro  with  letters 
between  Jerome  aud  Augustine.4  He  was  a Spaniard,  and 
was  credited  with  a great  service  to  the  Latin  Church.  For 
he  was  the  first  who  transported  the  relics  of  St.  Stephen 
to  the  West,  after  their  rediscovery  about  this  time  in 
Palestine;  and  he  brought  the  account  of  this  new  “in- 
vention,” as  translated  by  Avitus  from  the  original  Greek  of 
Lucian  the  discoverer,  to  Home,  and  Carthage,  and  Hippo.5 

The  year  417  was  marked  by  some  important  pilgrimages, 
about  which  a good  deal  has  been  written,  especially  those 
of  Paula  and  Melania  the  younger.  The  latter  of  these,  in 
the  anonymous  life  of  St.  Melania,  recently  printed  6 from  a 
manuscript  in  the  Paris  library,  is  the  most  considerable 
and  detailed  of  all  the  minor  pilgrim-notices  of  the  first  six 
centuries. 

Starting  from  Rome,  and  sailing  by  Sicily,  the  travellers 
were  caught  by  storms  and  driven  on  to  a hostile  coast, 
made  prisoners  and  in  danger  of  worse,  when  they  were 


1 Jer.  Ep.  cxxvi. 

2 But  interesting  as  a very  early 

journey  from  so  distant  a corner  of  the 

Roman  world  as  Britain;  Migne, 

P.  L.  xxxiii.  762,  xxxii.  649,  xliy. 

-359,  etc.,  li.  271,  etc.,  xxii.  1165. 


3 Jer.  Ep.  cxxx. 

4 Aug.  Ep.  clxvi.  ; Jer.  Ep.  cxxxiv. 

5 Bede  De  VI.  iEtatibus  Mundi. 
(And  see  Migne,  P.  L.  cvi.  c.  1243.) 

6 Anonym  us  Cosevus,  Vita  S.  Me- 
lanise ; Bib.  Nat.  n.  acq.  lat.  2178. 


90  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


rescued  by  the  local  bishop,  who  had  heard  of  the  fame  of 
their  journey.  Thence  they  escaped  to  the  shore  of  Africa, 
near  Carthage,  and  coasted  along  to  Alexandria,  where  they 
were  received  by  St.  Cyril.  From  Egypt  they  went  on  to 
Jerusalem,  being  encouraged  to  persevere  by  the  words  of 
Nestor  of  Alexandria,  “ a man  full  of  the  spirit  of  prophecy.” 
“ The  end  of  toil,”  he  told  them,  “ completes  your  joy.  The 
sufferings  of  this  time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared  to  the 
glory  that  shall  be  revealed  in  us.” 

In  Jerusalem  they  were  alarmed  at  hearing  that  the 
barbarians  had  broken  into  Spain,  where  Melania’s  brother 
seems  to  have  had  possessions;  and  she  proposed  to  him 
that  they  should  return  to  Egypt,  and  pray  for  God’s  mercy 
from  the  monks — “My  lord,  let  us  go  and  see  our  lords,, 
the  holy  servants  of  God,  that  they  may  succour  us  by 
vision  and  prayer.”  After  this  visit  of  devotion  they  are 
again  found  in  Jerusalem,1  where  Melania’s  mother  died, 
and  then  in  Northern  Syria,  at  Tripolis,  seemingly  on  the 
way  to  Constantinople, — where  the  narrative  breaks  off 
abruptly,  giving  no  account  of  the  rest  of  the  journey,  or 
of  the  death  of  Melania,  both  which  are  believed  to  have 
been  in  the  original  record.2 

Jerome  died  in  420,  and  in  the  same  year,  St.  Petroniusr 
bishop  of  Bologna,  erected  in  his  own  city,  on  his  return, 
an  imitation  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  after 
measurements  and  notes  which  he  had  made  on  the  spot. 
While  in  Jerusalem  he  had  erected  a sumptuous  monastery 
on  the  top  of  Olivet;  he  travelled  over  Egypt,  and  won 
the  favour  of  the  Emperor  Theodosius  II.;  his  Italian 


1 For  a stay  of  fourteen  years. 

2 Her  story  of  a pious  but  un- 
successful fraud,  by  which  she  tried 
to  bestow  a few  coins  upon  one  of 
the  solitaries  who  prayed  for  her 


family,  leaving  them  in  a corner  of 
his  cell  while  his  attention  was  dis- 
tracted, reminds  one  in  different 
ways  both  of  Silvia  and  Willibald. 


II] 


PETRONIUS,  EUDOXIA,  EUCHERIUS. 


91 


buildings  stood  till  they  were  burnt  in  an  invasion  of  the 
Hungarians.1 

About  the  same  time  (420-430),  the  relics  of  St.  Jerome 
themselves  became  an  object  of  veneration;2  in  431  a 
certain  Germanus,  a presbyter  from  Arabia,  is  heard  of  at 
Jerusalem  in  the  course  of  a very  long  journey  to  Gallicia 
in  Spain;  and  a little  later,  another  imperial  pilgrimage 
attracted  some  attention.  This  was  undertaken  by  Eudoxia,3 
the  wife  of  Theodosius  the  younger,  the  spiritual  daughter 
of  Melania,  in  438  (or  ’9) : and  the  complete  story  of  this, 
as  we  have  it  in  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  finds  here  the  origin 
of  the  festival  of  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula,  in  Kome.4  For 
Eudoxia,  it  was  said,  had  the  good  fortune  to  unearth  the 
relics  of  the  apostle’s  chains,  of  which  the  filings  became 
in  time  so  favourite  a papal  present  to  devout  monarchs. 

An  extraordinary  story  of  an  attempted  pilgrimage,5 
at  this  epoch,  comes  from  Isidore  of  Seville.  The  devil 
appeared  under  the  form  of  Moses  to  the  Jews  of  Crete,  and 
offered  to  lead  them  to  Palestine  through  the  sea,  upon  dry 
land — thus  destroying  many.  This  legend  pleased  the  taste 
of  later  times  : Godfrey  of  Viterbo  has  a poem  upon  it,  and 
allusions  to  the  story  are  frequent  in  mediaeval  hagiology. 

To  the  same  period 6 belongs  the  tract  of  Bishop 
Eucherius  of  Lyons  (434-450),  “ On  Some  of  the  Holy 
Places  ” (“De  Aliquibus  Locis  Sanctis  ”),  written  as  a letter 
to  the  priest  F austinus.7  But  this  appears  not  to  be  a record 


1 Acta  SS.  Oct.  ii.  459,  464. 

2 Migne,  P.  L.  xxii.  302,  304 ; li. 
c.  880. 

3 Migne,  P.  L.  li.  c.  926 ; Evagrius, 
H.  E.  I.  21. 

4 Spec.  Hist.  lib.  xx.  c.  37. 

5 Circ.  a.d.  439,  Isodore,  Chron. 

c.  109 ; Migne,  P.  L.  Ixxxiii.  1052. 

8 Circ.  a.d.  440.  In  441  he  attended 


the  First  Council  of  Orange  as  Bishop 
of  Lyons. 

7 A priest  of  the  monastery  of 
Insula  Barba.  The  importance  of 
this  letter  to  Palestine  topographers 
is  that  it  disproves  the  theory  that 
the  “ Dome  of  the  Rock  ” was  erected 
by  Constantine  over  the  tomb  of 
Christ. 


92  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch. 


of  an  actual  journey,  so  much  as  an  epitome  of  what  the 
author  had  “heard  or  read  about  Judaea,  and  the  site  of 
Jerusalem.”  It  is  only  upon  “ certain  of  the  holy  places,” 
after  all ; and  slight  as  is  the  exploring  interest  in  most  of 
these  Christian  travellers,  by  the  side  of  the  devotional, 
it  is  more  than  Eucherius  gives  us.  There  is  nothing  in 
his  pamphlet  but  an  enumeration  of  the  wonders  of  Jerusalem 
itself,  with  a mention  of  Hebron,  Joppa,  Dan,  Panias, 
Bethlehem,  Jericho,  the  Dead  Sea,  and  the  Jordan — whose 
upper  course  above  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  he  seems  to  know 
nothing  about,  giving  us  instead  thereof  the  information — 
so  often  repeated  in  these  pilgrim-travels, — “ The  J ordan  is 
so-called,  because  two  fountains  join  to  give  rise  to  it,  and 
of  these  one  is  called  Jor , and  the  other  Dan”  On  the 
other  hand,  Eucherius  shows  a little  more  caution  than  some 
devotees,  in  his  notice  of  the  “ Church  on  Olivet  where 
Christ  is  said  to  have  preached,”  and  the  place  “ from  which 
tradition  tells  us  He  ascended.”  It  is  interesting,  moreover, 
to  compare  the  almost  total  absence  of  relics  in  this  account 
of  Jerusalem  with  their  only  too  abundant  presence  in  the 
“ Breviary  ” of  a century  later  (c.  530). 

From  Vincent  of  Beauvais1  we  now  have  the  doubtful 
story  (referred  to  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century)  of  James 
of  Britain,  who  following  in  the  track  of  S.  Ursula  and  the 
Eleven  [Thousand]  Virgins,  is  ultimately  made  Archbishop  of 
Antioch ; and  to  the  same  time  is  referred  the  curious  tale 
of  merchants  carrying  letters  between  Simeon  Stylites,2  who 
now  replaces  Jerome  as  the  great  attraction  for  Palestine 
pilgrims,  and  various  friends  and  correspondents  of  his  in 
Spain,  Gaul,  Italy,  and  Britain. 

The  remaining  notices  of  Christian  travel  in  the  fifth 
century  are  of  very  slight  interest,  and  of  these  the 
1 Spec.  HLst.  xx.  42.  * Acta  SS*  Jan.  i.  pp.  140,  263. 


II.] 


“DESCRIPTIO  PARROCHIiE  HIERUSALEM .” 


98 


“ Descriptio  Parrochise  Hiernsalem  ” (c.  460)  is  perhaps  the 
most  important.  Yet  this  is  a mere  enumeration  of  place- 
names,  giving  us  a list  of  the  Churches  subject  to  the  four 
metropolitan  sees  of  Caesarea,  Scythopolis,  Petra,  and  Bostra, 
which  together  composed  the  patriarchate  of  Jerusalem; 
and  it  has  been  plausibly  supposed,1  therefore,  to  com- 
memorate the  recent  erection  of  Jerusalem  into  a patri- 
archate by  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  (451). 

Beside  this,  there  is  little  indeed  to  record  during  the 
last  sixty  years  of  the  fifth  century.  The  “ legacies  ” of  tho 
great  popes  of  the  time  to  Eastern  bishops,  councils,  and 
synods  do  not  bear  on  our  subject,  except  in  the  most 
incidental  way;  and  the  only  individual  case  of  Western 
pilgrimage  which  is  worth  mentioning,  is  that  of  a Gallic 
bishop,  Licinius,  reported  by  Gregory  of  Tours  2 as  if  in  or 
near  the  year  490. 

A certain  number  of  allusions  occur  to  the  visits  of 
devout  Romans,  chiefly  ladies,  as  in  that  of  the  year  500,. 
reported  in  Ethiopic  tradition.  A journey  of  the  Emperor 
Zeno  is  mentioned,  on  doubtful  authority,  as  occurring  in 
the  Annus  Mirabilis,3  which  saw  the  extinction  of  the 
Western  Empire  of  Theodosius  and  his  sons ; but  such  a 
journey,  even  if  authentic,  has  but  slight  interest.  It  does 
not  represent  any  particular  movement,  and  it  breaks  no 
new  ground.  The  same  sterility  is  observable  in  the  notices 
of  the  early  sixth  century,  before  the  Age  of  Justinian,  the 
next  great  period  of  pilgrim-travel;  but  in  514  or  515  is 
placed  the  legendary  pilgrimage  of  Arthur  of  Britain.  The 
earlier  Latin  story  of  this  in  Nennius,4  brings  the  King 


1 It.  Hi.  pref.  ad  loc. 

2 Gr.  T.  Hist.  Fr.  ii.  39,  x.  31. 

Licinius  was  eighth  in  succession 

after  St.  Martin  (It.  Hi.  ii.  177). 


3 476  a.d. 

4 Nennius  De  Sex  iEtat.  Mundi; 
cf.  Coll,  de  Chruniques  Beiges,  ii. 
214  ; It.  Hi.  ii.  190,  191.  , 


94  PRIMITIVE  PILGRIMS  OF  LATIN  CHRISTENDOM.  [Ch.  II. 


merely  to  Palestine  ; the  later,  and  ever  more  and  more 
imaginative,  accounts  (in  Old  French)  take  him  to  Saxony, 
Africa,  Antioch,  and  Hungary  besides  : but  the  whole  thing, 
both  in  earlier  and  later  versions,  hardly  comes  into  serious 
history  at  all. 

A little  more  like  fact  sounds  the  tradition  of  the  pil- 
grimage of  the  patron  saint  of  Wales,1  David,  archbishop 
of  Menevia  (c.  a.d.  518),  though  it  is  attributed  to  direct 
angelical  instigation,  and  David  is  said  to  have  been 
endowed,  like  the  “ apostolic  band,”  with  divers  languages, 
that  he  should  not  have  to  employ  the  earthly  and  degrading 
offices  of  an  interpreter.  The  story  is  also  connected  with 
a curious  tale  of  reviving  Jewish  activity  in  Palestine,2 
reaching  such  a pitch  that  the  Welsh  strangers  were 
appointed  by  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  to  preach  against 
Judaism ; but  the  whole  matter  is  of  uncertain  authenticity, 
and  we  can  do  no  more  than  note  the  tradition  of  the  visit, 
and  point  out,  that,  if  true,  it  is  a pilgrimage  of  an 
unusually  ambitious  character. 

Somewhere  between  518  and  523,  St.  A vitus,  bishop  of 
Yienne,  sends  to  Jerusalem  to  beg  for  relics;3  and  about 
520  one  Peter  goes  from  the  Latin  Church  of  North  Africa ; 
but  nearly  all  the  pilgrim-notices  of  this  time  are  Greek, 
Arabic,  Armenian,  and  Levantine,  for  of  Western  travel  to 
the  Holy  Land  there  are  very  few  traces  just  now.4 


1 It.  Hi.  192-200 ; Acta  SS.  March, 
i.  p.  44. 

2 Cf.  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  V.  S. 
Day.  lect.  vii. ; Anglia  Sacra,  ii.  637. 

3 It.  Hi.  ii.  201  (Av.  Ep.  xviii.); 
Migne,  P.  L.  lix.  cc.  236,  239. 

4 A certain  Cerycus,  general  of 


the  Roman  army,  who  appears  as 
a pilgrim  of  the  year  527,  seems  to 
have  been  regularly  employed  in 
Eastern  service,  as  in  the  war  against 
the  Persians;  but  the  tradition  of 
his  Latin  origin  is  doubtful  (It.  Hi. 
II.  206). 


( 95  ) 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED — 
CIRC.  A.D.  527-600. 

Between  the  time  of  Jerome  and  the  time  of  Justinian,  as 
we  have  seen,  onr  travel -documents  are  of  a very  slight 
nature.  But  with  that  reconstruction  of  the  Christian 
Empire  which  is  the  central  fact  of  the  sixth  century,  these 
records  assume  a far  greater  length  and  importance.  Except 
for  St.  Silvia’s  journey,  none  of  the  earlier  memoirs  of 
religious  wandering  have  given  us  much  more  than  devotional 
appeals  or  bald  itineraries.  With  the  same  exception,  too, 
our  pilgrims  have  practically  confined  their  interest  to  a 
few  places  in  Palestine  west  of  the  Jordan,  telling  us 
scarcely  anything  about  the  east  beyond  the  sacred  horizon 
of  Syria,  or  the  J ordan  valley.  And,  again,  the  mythological 
tendency  has  been  in  want  of  one  or  two  daring  inventors, 
of  men  of  genius  like  Antonine  the  Martyr,  whose  peregri- 
nation we  have  now  before  us.  To  understand  how  the 
Dark  Age  system  of  sacred  geography  reached  the  per- 
fection we  find  in  some  Western  maps  of  later  time,  we  need 
something  more  systematically  deceptive  than  the  rhetoric 
of  Jerome  or  the  slow  accumulation  of  the  mistakes  and 
confusions  of  practical  travellers.  In  the  period  of  Justinian 
we  may  see  an  important  advance  towards  the  shaping  of  that 
religious  conception  of  the  visible  world  which  we  have 
noticed  as  fully  developed  in  theorists  like  Cosmas  the 


96  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 

monk,  and  in  the  artificial  symmetry  of  mediaeval  maps. 
This  Bible-geography,  as  we  have  said,  gave  to  Palestine 
a quite  fictitious  size  and  position  as  the  central  country 
of  the  inhabited  earth;  and  it  developed  purely  traditional 
sites,  like  Eden,  or  the  resting-place  of  the  Ark,  or  the  tree 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  in  Egypt,  into  important  landmarks, 
that  were  to  determine  the  position  of  more  prosaic  regions, 
like  France,  or  Italy,  or  Greece.  Thus  legend,  as  it  grew 
more  powerful,  assumed  authority  over  science ; fiction  over 
fact.  The  Age  of  J ustinian  also  witnessed  a great  extension 
of  commerce  between  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  further 
East.  In  his  reign  and  under  his  auspices,  silk-worms  were 
brought  from  China  to  the  West,  by  Persian  monks  in  the 
service  of  their  co-religionists,  against  the  interests  of  their 
fellow-countrymen,  who  had  long  enjoyed  the  monopoly  of 
this  trade.  Intercourse  also  with  the  Ethiopian  Christians 
of  Abyssinia  was  largely  developed  ; “ Roman  ” merchants 
penetrated  almost  to  the  equator  in  their  company,1  in 
search  of  gold,  emeralds,  and  spices;  and,  through  the  Christian 
missions  of  India,  a footing  was  gained  in  Malabar  and  in 
Ceylon,  where  a pioneer  of  Western  enterprise,  in  Cosmas’ 
day,  challenged  his  Persian  rivals  to  a comparison  of  the 
coins  and  claims  of  their  respective  sovereigns.  The  renewed 
intercourse  between  the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  the 
Empire  under  Justinian,  and  the  restoration  of  the  “ Roman ” 
rule  in  Africa,  Italy,  and  Southern  Spain,  may  be  our  apology 
for  a somewhat  detailed  examination  of  a commerce  and 
a geography  which  are  really  Greek  in  language  and  Byzantine 
in  character.  For,  in  attempting  to  describe  the  system  of  a 
Cosmas  and  the  trade-developments  of  his  time,  in  sub- 
sequent chapters,  we  shall  be  taken  away  from  Latin  records, 
and  shall  be  occupied  more  with  writings  of  the  eastern 
1 Cosmas  Ind.  ii.  pp.  137, 138,  140-143 ; xi.  337-339  (Montfaucon). 


Ill] 


ROMAN  REVIVAL  UNDER  JUSTINIAN. 


97 


Mediterranean  than  with  those  of  the  western;  but  the 
inter-connection  of  religion,  the  place  of  Cosmas  as  a 
defender  of  Angustine  against  the  heresies  of  the  Greeks, 
and  the  temporary  reunion  of  so  much  of  the  Western  Church 
and  State  under  a sovereign  reigning  at  Constantinople,  are 
reasons  enough  for  this  digression.  In  other  words,  we 
must  take  account  of  the  peculiarly  Roman  character  of 
the  Byzantine  Empire  under  Justinian,  who  completed  the 
codification  of  Roman  law;  as  well  as  of  the  undoubted 
influence  of  Byzantine  commerce  and  geographical  science  on 
the  Latin  world  of  this  age. 

For  since  the  time  of  Jerome  the  Roman  Empire  had 
utterly  collapsed  in  the  lands  west  of  the  Adriatic,  never 
to  be  restored  except  as  a dependency  of  the  New  Rome  on 
the  Bosphorus,  or  as  a Germano-Italian  kingdom,  half- 
Erankish,  half-ecclesiastical  and  papal.  With  the  triumph 
of  Islam  in  the  seventh  century,  Latin  and  Greek  are  again 
separated,  more  decisively  than  ever;  and  in  the  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries  the  schism  of  the  Churches  completes 
that  estrangement  of  the  kingdoms  which  lasts  to  the 
Crusades  : but,  in  the  period  we  have  reached,  the  undivided 
Church  and  the  restored  Empire  give  a unity  to  all  the 
enterprises  of  trade,  of  religious  proselytism,  or  of  science, 
undertaken  in  the  names  of  Christ  and  of  Rome. 

But  to  return  to  pilgrimage.  We  may  dismiss  as  purely 
legendary  the  wild  Ethiopian  story  of  Justinian 1 meeting 
with  the  King  of  Abyssinia  and  the  patriarchs  of  Con- 
stantinople and  Alexandria  in  Jerusalem,  at  some  unfixed 
date  between  528-565 ; and  we  may  pass  over  the  notices  of 
the  emperor’s  buildings  in  Palestine  and  of  St.  Saba’s  great 
foundation 2 in  the  Kedron  gorge  (“  Mar  Saba,”)  as  belonging 

1 It.  Hi.  ii.  207.  has  published  a translation  of  part  of 

2 It.  Hi.  ii.  207, 209,  and  Procopius  this, 
on  J ustinian’s  Buildings.  P.P.T.Soc. 

H 


08  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Oh. 

to  topography  rather  than  to  exploration  or  travel  of  any  sort. 
In  this  way  we  shall  come  at  once  to  the  Breviarius  de 
Hierosolyma,  or  “ Short  Account  of  Jerusalem,”  written  appa- 
rently somewhere  in  the  years  527-530,  which  gives  us  a 
brief  outline  of  notable  things  in  the  style  of  Bishop 
Eucherius,  but  with  a far  greater  admixture  of  legend. 
Short  as  is  the  account,  it  is  packed  full  of  news  for  the 
relic-seeker.  He  is  told  of  the  “holy  lance,  made  of  the 
wood  of  the  Cross,  which  shines  at  night  like  the  sun  in 
the  glory  of  the  day  ; ” of  the  “ horn  with  which  David  and 
Solomon  were  anointed ; ” of  the  “ ring  of  amber,  with  which 
Solomon  sealed  his  books ; ” of  the  “ earth  of  which  Adam 
was  formed;”  of  the  “reed  and  sponge,  and  the  cup  of 
the  Last  Supper ; ” of  “ the  stone  with  which  Stephen  was 
stoned ; ” of  the  crown  of  thorns,  the  identical  “ lamp  ” of 
the  upper  chamber,  and  the  “ rod  of  scourging,  enclosed 
within  a silver  column.”  But  apart  from  this  catalogue  of 
marvels  in  a distant  part  of  the  world,  the  “ Breviary  ” has 
very  little  to  do  with  Christian  travel,  though  perhaps  it  throws 
some  light  on  certain  developments  of  Christian  doctrine. 

Under  the  year  530, 1 another  doubtful  Welsh  pilgrimage 
is  reported.  Like  King  Arthur,  one  Saint  Cadocus  (son 
of  the  King  Gundleus),  who  had  become  bishop  of  Beneven- 
tum,  went,  according  to  his  own  statement,  thrice  to 
Jerusalem ; to  say  nothing  of  seven  journeys  to  Borne,  and 
one,  at  least  in  intention,  to  St.  Andrew  in  “ Scotia  ” Like 
St.  David,  he  was  relieved  of  the  trouble  of  learning  the 
different  tongues  of  the  countries  he  traversed;  the  Lord 
giving  him  the  knowledge  he  required.  For  when  did  a 
Welsh  traveller  ever  come  behind  the  very  chiefest  of  the 
elect  ? 

1 It.  Hi.  ii.  211,  Acta  SS.  Jan.  ii.  p.  604;  Capgrave  Nov.  Leg.  Angl. 
<1516),  f.  liii.  b. 


III.]  BREVIARIUS  DE  HIEROSOLYMA  : THEODOSIUS.  99 


About  the  same  time  was  written  the  book  of  Theodosius, 
“ On  the  Position  of  the  Holy  Land,”  with  which  has  been 
coupled  a quite  distinct  tract,  “ On  the  Way  of  the  Children 
of  Israel.” 1 The  former  is  essentially  in  the  nature  of  an 
itinerary,  and  the  historical  and  other  notes  are  incidental ; 
but,  such  as  they  are,  they  offer  a good  deal  of  suggestive 
material.  We  know  little  enough  about  the  author,  who 
is  described  as  archdeacon  in  one  manuscript,  and  deacon 
in  another,  but  without  any  further  detail;  and  it  cannot 
be  said  that  Gildemeister’s  conjecture  (from  § 56),  that  he 
came  from  Northern  Africa,  because  he  alludes  to  Yandal 
and  Roman  monasteries  in  Memphis,  throws  much  light  on 
the  subject.  The  date  of  the  work,  however,  may  be  fixed 
as  Tobler  has  assigned  it,  viz.  to  about  a.d.  530,  for  various 
reasons.  It  seems  to  have  been  used  by  Gregory  of  Tours, 
who  probably  refers,  in  his  tract,  “On  the  Glory  of  the 
Martyrs,”2  to  our  pilgrim’s  descriptions  of  the  tombs  of 
St.  James,  Zacharias,  and  Simeon,  on  Olivet  (in  § 50) ; and 
to  his  account  of  the  meeting  of  the  streams  under  the  town 
of  Baneas  (in  § 13) ; of  the  warm  springs  of  Livias  (in  § 65)  ; 
and  of  the  miracle  at  the  place  of  St.  Clement’s  martyrdom, 
where  the  sea  every  year  retired  in  reverence  from  the  spot 
(in  § 54).  Again,  while  Theodosius  is  acquainted  with  the 
buildings  of  Anastasius  at  Jerusalem,  he  does  not  notice 
those  of  Justinian. 

He  begins  by  describing  the  gates  of  Jerusalem ; then, 
passing  to  Jericho  and  Gilgal,  speaks  of  the  field  where  our 
Lord  ploughed  one  furrow  with  His  own  hand,  and  of  the 
twelve  stones  lifted  out  of  Jordan  by  the  children  of  Israel. 
Thence  by  Scythopolis,  “ where  St.  Basil  suffered  martyr- 
dom,” to  Magdala,  where  the  Virgin  was  born ; to  the  seven 

1 De  Situ  Terrse  Sanctse  et  de  Via  I Gildemeister’s  edit,  of  Theod.  (1882). 
.Filiorum  Israel.  The  refs,  here  are  to  | 2 De  Glor.  MM.  i.  17, 18,  27,  35. 


100  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


fountains,  where  Christ  “ baptised  the  apostles ; ” and  to 
Baneas,  where  the  Jor  and  Dan  met  under  the  city  to 
form  the  Jordan, — whence  also  came  the  woman  healed  of 
the  issue  of  blood,  named  Marosa,1  who  made,  afterwards,  an 
amber  statue2  of  the  Lord. 

In  Joppa  the  pilgrim  may  see  where  the  whale  threw 
up  Jonah ; sixteen  miles  from  Jerusalem  is  the  place  where 
Philip  baptized  the  Eunuch ; one  mile  only  from  Olivet  is 
the  village  where  Abdimelech,  the  disciple  of  Jeremiah, 
“ slept  under  the  fig-tree  for  six  and  forty  years.”  3 It  was 
at  the  place  of  Calvary,4  or,  rather,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
mountain  that  Abraham  offered  up  his  son,  close  to  where 
the  Lord  was  crucified,  and  buried,  and  rose  again,  and 
where  His  cross  was  found.  Barely  two  hundred  paces 
from  Golgotha  is  the  Church  of  Sion,  which  Christ  founded 
with  His  apostles ; it  was  formerly  the  house  of  Mark  the 
Evangelist.  The  pillar  at  which  the  Lord  was  scourged  is 
now  in  Sion ; 5 it  was  once  in  the  house  of  Caiaphas,  but,  at 
Christ’s  bidding,  it  followed  Him,  and  upon  it  are  imprinted 
the  countenance,  chin,  nose,  and  eyes,  the  arms,  hands,  and 
fingers  of  the  Sufferer  as  He  clung  to  it.  In  the  pool  of 
the  Sheep-market  is  still  to  be  seen  the  bed 6 of  the  palsied 
man ; and  here  Theodosius  introduces  the  story  of  James,7 
“whom  the  Lord  ordained  bishop  with  His  own  hand,” 
being  thrown  down  from  a pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and 
“ in  no  wise  harmed,”  till  a fuller  killed  him  with  a blow 
from  a pole.  James,  Zacharias,  and  Simeon,  he  adds,  all 


1 Possibly  a corruption  of  at/j.ajS- 
fioov&a  (Luke  viii.  43). 

2 The  fame  of  this  marvel  in  after 
days  spread  to  “ France,”  and 
Gregory  of  Tours  preserves  a mention 
of  it;  cf.  Theod.  cc.  1,  2,7-14;  and 
G.  T.  De  Glor.  MM.  i.  21. 

3 Caps.  24,  30,  39;  Jerem.  xxxviii. 


7,  xxxix.  15,  16. 

4 It  may  be  noticed,  in  ch.  42, 
Theodosius  makes  a distinction  be- 
tween Calvary  and  Golgotha. 

5 Caps.  40-43,  45. 

6 C.  48. 

7 C.  50. 


III.]  THEODOSIUS  ON  SYRIA,  EUXINE,  AND  EGYPT.  101 


lie  together  in  one  monument,  constructed  by  J ames 
himself.  ** 

Here  the  pilgrim’s  rough  jottings  quit  Palestine  abruptly, 
and  he  tells  us  of  the  memorial  of  St.  Clement  at  Cherson,1 
on  the  Black  Sea.  Here  the  saint  had  been  drowned,  with 
an  anchor  round  his  neck ; but  once  a year,  on  his  birthday, 
the  sea  now  retired  for  a space  of  six  miles,  to  allow  the 
faithful  to  celebrate  the  anniversary,  and  any  one  who 
touched  the  martyr’s  anchor  was  freed  from  demons  imme- 
diately, however  much  vexed  by  them  before.  At  Sinope, 
again  (mentioned  as  if  near  Cherson),  the  traveller  must 
note  the  spot  where  Andrew  delivered  Matthew  from  prison, 
and  hence,  adds  the  itinerary,  we  come  to  Armenia.2 

Next,  we  are  taken  to  Egypt,  to  Memphis,  the  city  of 
Pharaoh  and  Joseph,  where  we  are  told  of  two  monasteries, 
of  Yandals  and  Romans,3  under  the  invocation  of  St. 
Jeremiah  and  St.  Apollonius  the  hermit.  Thence  to 
Cappadocia,  to  Caesarea,  and  Sebaste ; to  Galatia,  to  the 
cities  of  Gangra,  Euchaita,  and  Anquira,4  all  famous  for 
monuments  of  martyrs ; and  to  the  “ mountain  of  Armenia,” 
whence  flow  Tigris  and  Euphrates.  “And  of  these,  the 
former  waters  Assyria  and  the  latter  Mesopotamia,”  while, 
of  the  other  streams  of  Paradise,  Phison  irrigates  Ethiopia, 
and  flows  through  to  Egypt,  while  Geon  waters  Evilath  (or 
Havilah),  and  passes  near  to  Jerusalem5 — a confusion  of 
the  pool  of  Gihon  with  the  rivers  of  Eden. 

In  his  next  section,  Theodosius  returns  to  Palestine  and 
the  “ Lord’s  field  ” in  Galgala,  watered  by  the  fountain  of 
Elisha,  and  bearing  every  year  about  six  bushels,  more  or 


1 On  the  west  side  of  the  quarantine 
harbour  of  Sebastopol : cf.  Bernard’s 
note ; and  Gildemeister,  pp.  21,  22. 

2 Caps.  54,  55. 


3 = Arian  aud  Catholic  (?),  c.  56. 

4 Ancyra  or  Angora.  Gangra  is 
Changra ; Euchaita,  Chorum. 

5 Caps.  57-62. 


102  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


less.  For  minute  accuracy  is,  perhaps,  not  to  be  liad  in 
such  details ; but  our  traveller  will  come  as  near  the  truth 
as  he  can.  A “vine,  that  the  Lord  planted”  close  by, 
provided  wine  for  the  Communion  at  Pentecost  quite 
regularly,  and  some  of  this  was  sent  to  Constantinople  at 
the  proper  season.  Across  the  Jordan,  twelve  miles  from 
Jericho,  is  Liviada,1  where  Moses  struck  the  rock,  and 
departed  from  this  life.  Here,  too,  are  warm  springs,  where 
Moses  bathed,  which  heal  lepers  even  to  this  day.  At  the 
place  of  Christ’s  baptism,  Theodosius  speaks  of  a church, 
built  by  Anastasius,  the  emperor ; and  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Jordan  he  tells  us  of  the  little  mount  of  Hermon,2 
where  Elijah  was  taken  up  to  heaven.  Five  miles  from 
this  point  we  come  to  the  Dead  Sea,  the  plain  of  Sodom, 
and  the  salt-pillar  of  Lot’s  wife,  which  waxes  and  wanes 
with  the  increase  and  decrease  of  the  moon — a refinement 
which  is  at  least  ingenious.  But  there  is  more  than 
ingenuity  in  all  this : there  is  precision  enough  to  satisfy 
the  most  doubtful. 

Upon  a certain  stone  of  Mount  Olivet  the  imprint  of 
Christ’s  shoulders  is  plainly  to  be  seen,  as  upon  soft  wax. 
Theodosius  is  very  properly  dissatisfied  with  only  one  marvel 
of  this  kind,  in  the  case  of  the  column  of  scourging.3  Still 
more  remarkable  are  the  little  hills  found  along  the  lower 
course  of  Jordan,  which,  when  the  Lord  descended  to  baptism, 
“ walked  exultingly  before  him,”  as  David  said ; “ the  moun- 
tains skipped  like  rams  and  the  little  hills  like  young  sheep.” 
And  even  to  this  day,  adds  the  observer,  they  look  as  if  in 
the  act  of  jumping. 

From  the  extreme  south  of  Palestine  we  now  go  to  the 

1 Caps.  64, 65.  The  Livias  of  Silvia, 

now  Tell-er-Ramah.  Cf.  Sir  C.  W. 

Wilson’s  note  in  P.P.T.  ed. 


Caps.  66,  67,  70. 
Caps.  71,  72. 


III.] 


THEODOSIUS  ON  ASIA  MINOR,  ETC. 


108 


extreme  north,  to  Sarepta  of  Phoenicia,  and  to  Sidon,  near 
Mount  Carmel.  Thence  we  pass  as  suddenly  to  Arabia,  where 
Theodosius  tells  us  of  the  thirteen  cities 1 destroyed  by 
Joshua,  and  following  on  this  we  get  an  order  of  countries 
according  to  geography — first  Canaan,  “where  is  Jerusa- 
lem,” then  Galilee,  then  Syria,  then  Mesopotamia,  and  (on 
the  left  of  these)  Armenia  “ first  and  second,”  and  Per- 
sarmenia,  “ all  which  2 are  subject  to  the  emperors.”  In  the 
Province  of  Asia,3  Theodosius  next  remarks,  apropos  of 
nothing,  is  Ephesus  : “ where  are  the  seven  sleepers,”  and, 
still  leaping  from  province  to  province,  we  have  to  follow  our 
guide  to  Mount  Sinai ; 4 to  Infra,  “ where  Moses  fought  with 
Amalek ; ” to  Elusa,  three  stations  from  Jerusalem ; to 
Glutiarinalia,  “ built  by  Alexander  the  Great  of  Macedon ; ” 
and  to  the  stone  of  the  Virgin,5  three  miles  outside  the  Holy 
City,  on  which  St.  Mary  sat,  and  which  the  wicked  Urbicius 
tried  to  carry  off.  For  Urbicius,  major-domo  of  the  imperial 
palace,6  once  ordered  the  sacred  block  to  be  transported  to 
Constantinople.  But  at  St.  Stephen’s  Gate,  in  Jerusalem, 
it  could  be  moved  no  further,  and  so  men  made  it  into  an 
altar  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Nor  did  this  avert  the  doom 
of  sacrilege.  When  Urbicius  was  buried,  the  earth  would  not 
hold  his  corpse,  but  three  times  did  the  grave  cast  him  forth. 

From  this,  Theodosius  fiies  off  to  Mesopotamia,  and  tells 
us  about  the  city  of  Dara,  built  by  Anastasius  to  guard  the 


1 Vincta,  Volunta,  Medeba,  Mu- 
sica,  Philadelphia,  Gerasa,  Genara, 
Bostra,  Damascus,  Gadara,  Abila, 
Capitolias,  Astra. 

2 Text  is  ambiguous:  “que  Ar- 
menie  sub  imperatore  sunt.” 

3 Caps.  73-76. 

4 Infra  is  Phara  (Feiran);  Elusa 

=Khalasah:  cf.  Ant.  M.  35  and  40 : 

see  note  in  P.P.T.  ed. 


5 Caps.  77,  78,  80. 

6 This  is  what  text  comes  to  : 
“ There  was  a governor  of  the  Empire 
called  Urbicius,  etc.”  “ Urbicius 
dicebatur  prsepositus  imperii,  qui  ad 
vii.  impera  tores  prsepositus  fuit,  et 
coronas  ipsis  imperatoribus  in  capite 
imponebat,  et  ipse  eas  de  capitibus 
eorum  deponebat,  . . . et  ipse  eos 
castigabat.” 


104  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


frontier  against  the  Persians ; thence  he  moves  on  to 
Persarmenia,  to  Persia,  and  to  Babylon,  where  monsters 
quite  excluded  man,  according  to  the  report  of  Eudoxius 
the  deacon.1  The  tract  concludes  with  notes  on  the  province 
of  Cilicia  and  the  notable  cities  therein,2  and  a series  of 
distances  on  a sort  of  journey  from  Tarsus  to  Antioch,  and 
from  Antioch  to  Edessa,  Dara,  and  Amida. 

In  all  this  it  is  rather  difficult  to  believe  that  we  have 
the  record  of  any  actual  journey,  and  not  rather  a collection 
of  statements  from  the  writings  or  the  talk  of  other  men. 
For  there  is  no  sign  of  personal  knowledge  in  these  scraps ; 
the  distances  given  are  constantly  and  recklessly  inaccurate. 
The  account,  in  particular,  of  the  Grihon  seems  entirely  from 
a misreading  of  authorities ; and  the  story  of  the  Pillar 
of  Salt  counts  against  any  real  visit  to  the  Dead  Sea. 
In  view  of  the  geographical  mythology  that  became  so 
developed  later,  it  is  interesting  to  find  Theodosius  alluding 
to  Jerusalem  as  “the  navel3  of  all  the  region  (of  Judaea),” 
an  earlier  form  of  Arculfs  Navel  of  the  World  and  of  the 
wheel  map-schemes  which  put  the  Holy  City  in  the  centre 
of  the  earth-circle.  But  no  one  of  our  travel-documents  is 
more  difficult  to  deal  with  than  this.  The  account  of  Pales- 
tine in  the  earlier  part  is  fairly  orderly,  though  fragmentary 
and  rather  like  a bad  attempt  at  book-keeping  by  double 
entry  : but  later,  with  the  mention  of  St.  Clement’s  memorial 
at  Cherson,  the  tract  becomes  hopelessly  confused,  and  seems 
to  have  no  method  of  dealing  with  the  various  places 
it  mentions,  the  transitions  being  as  startling  as  in  a 
modern  examination-paper  for  school  geography. 


1 Caps.  81-83. 

2 Particularly  the  city  of  iEgaea, 

“ where  for  forty  days  traffic  is 
carried  on,  and  no  demand  is  made, 
but  if  after  the  forty  days  a man  is 


| found  transacting  business,  he  pays 
the  fiscal  dues.” 

3  Pref.  (not  in  Gildemeister’s  Re- 
cension). 


III.] 


DE  YIA  FILIORUM  ISRAEL. 


105 


With  the  hook  of  Theodosius  is  associated  the  wholly 
different  treatise,  “ On  the  Route  of  the  Children  of  Israel,”  1 
which,  however,  may  be  assigned  to  about  the  same  date,  and 
which  is  chiefly  occupied  with  historical  and  theological 
controversy  about  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea.  And  this  is 
not  so  called,  proceeds  the  author,  because  the  water  is  red, 
but  because  all  the  land  round  about  is  of  that  colour,  and 
so  is  everything  that  can  be  eaten  swimming  in  the  waves 
thereof.  There,  too,  men  find  red  jewels.  And  of  the  two 
parts  of  the  Red  Sea,  we  are  told,  the  eastern  is  called  the 
Persian  Gulf,  because  the  Persians  live  on  the  shore  of  it ; 
the  other  is  the  Arabian  Gulf,  because  it  looks  towards  Arabia. 

For  the  passage  of  the  Israelites,  moreover,  through  the 
Red  Sea,  the  writer  is  not  content  with  one  division  of 
the  waters,  but  makes  twelve,  one  for  each  tribe,2  “ as  the 
vehement  blast  of  wind  brought  it  about ; ” for  the  rest, 
he  merely  transcribes  the* list  of  stopping-places  between 
Egypt  and  Palestine  from  the  Pentateuch,  with  a few 
elucidations  of  his  own — as  where  he  tells  us  that  when  the 
Israelites  reached  the  Land  of  Promise,  the  sons  of  Lot 
destroyed  the  giants,  the  sons  of  Esau  the  Horites,  and  the 
Cappadocians  part  of  the  Hivites. 

A steady  flow  of  Italian  pilgrims  to  Syria  is  reported, 
upon  unusually  good  evidence,  as  happening  in  or  about  this 
same  year  530, 3 when  St.  Isaac,  abbot  of  Spoleto,  and  St. 
Herculanus,  afterwards  bishop  of  Perugia,  were  the  leaders, 
it  is  said,  of  a company  of  more  than  three  hundred  pilgrim- 
travellers.4 


1 Circ.  a.d.  530. 

2 Though,  he  mentions  the  Hebrew 
tradition  that  the  Israelites  did  not 
cross  at  all,  but  merely  went  along 
the  shore. 

3 Cf.  It.  Hi.  ii.  211.  Pope  Gregory 


I.’s  Dialogues,  iii.  14;  Fabricius, 
Bibl.  Gr.  xi.  114;  Acta  SS.  April  ii. 
pp.  28,  etc. 

4  But  great  uncertainty  hangs 
about  most  of  the  names  recorded, 
except  the  two  mentioned  above,  and 


106  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch- 


Some  time  before  a.d.  533,  one  St.  Berthaldus  of  Chau- 
mont,  a reputed  son  of  Thealdus  “ king  of  Scotia,”  and  a 
certain  Amandus,1  a hermit  from  the  diocese  of  Rheims, 
and  (either  then  or  a little  later)  Cosmas  Indicopleustes 
himself,  are  said  to  have  visited  Jerusalem.  The  latter’s 
mention2  of  the  pilgrimage  of  certain  ^Ethiopian  merchants 
to  Palestine  is  curiously  confirmed  by  a later  allusion  in 
Antoninus  of  Placentia;  and  his  exceptional  place  in  the 
history  of  geographical  theory  and  of  pseudo-science  makes 
his  (probable)  journey  unusually  suggestive.  Unfortunately 
it  is  only  a probability.  The  journeys  of  the  legates3  of 
Pope  Agapetus  in  536,  and  of  “Pelagius,  deacon  and 
apocrisiarius  ” of  the  Roman  see,  to  Antioch  and  Jerusalem 
in  540  are  concerned  with  matters  of  ecclesiastical  politics ; 
and  with  these  exceptions  we  get  hardly  anything  during 
these  years  of  Western  travel  to  the  Levant ; for  the  notices 
collected  by  the  laborious  editors  of  the  “ Itinera  Hiero- 
solymitana”  are  almost  wholly  of  journeys  from  the  Greek- 
speaking lands  of  the  nearer  East,  from  Constantinople 
or  from  Egypt,  and  these  pretty  well  destitute  of  geographical 
interest. 

In  550  we  come  again  upon  one  of  the  ever-doubtful 
British4  records.  One  Petroc,  an  abbot  from  Cornwall,  is 
reported  to  have  set  out,  in  that  year,  upon  a long-promised 
pilgrimage  to  Rome,  after  Divine  admonitions  of  stormy 
weather  for  his  delay;  from  Italy  he  went  on,  like  the 
legates  of  ^Efred  in  883,  to  Jerusalem,  and  proceeded  still 
further  towards  India.5 


it  is  doubtful  whether  many  of  these 
devotees  suffered  in  the  third  century 
under  Diocletian,  or  travelled  in  the 
sixth  under  Justinian. 

1 Acta  SS.  Jun.  iii.  pp.  98,  99. 

2 Cosmas,  xi.;  Migne,P.G.lxxxviii. 


c.  53,  499;  Ant.  Mart.  c.  35. 

3 It.  Hi.  ii.  216-218. 

4 Acta  SS.  Jun.  i.  p.  401;  Cap- 
grave,  Nov.  Leg  Ang.  (1516),  f.  2666. 

5 It  is  a little  off  our  track,  but  it 
is  curious  that  in  the  same  year  aa 


III.] 


ST.  MARTIN  OF  BRAGA  IN  THE  EAST. 


107 


About  tbe  same  time,  men  “ of  many  nations  ” are 
vaguely  said  to  have  flocked  to  Syria  to  visit  the  wonder  of 
the  age,  the  younger  Simeon  Stylites,  glory  and  crown  of 
the  pillar  saints.1  Among  these  “ nations  ” various  Westerns 
must,  of  course,  be  included. 

The  terrible  earthquakes  (from  July  9,  551,  to  August  15, 
553)  which  shook  the  whole  of  the  Phoenician  coast  and 
upland  are  noticed  in  Antoninus  Martyr,  and  may  have 
roused  a fresh  interest  in  pilgrimage,  touched  with  terror, 
among  Latin  Christians;  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  their 
immediately  increasing  the  stream  of  religious  travellers 
— rather  the  reverse.  Till  560  we  get  no  more  notices  of 
Western  pilgrimage,  and  then  it  is  only  of  the  journey  of 
a Spanish  Saint  Martin,  archbishop  of  Braga.2  His  epitaph, 
composed  by  himself,  speaks  of  him  as  a humble  imitator  of 
Martin  of  Tours,3  and  locates  him  in  Pannonia  and  Gallicia, 


“ Pannoniis  genitus,  trancendens  sequora  vasta 
Gallicise  in  gremium  divinis  nutibus  actus,” — 


while  Gregory  of  Tours  makes  him  take  ship  at  Oporto,  on 
an  earlier  pilgrimage  to  the  relics  of  his  great  namesake 
and  patron  in  Gaul.  The  same  authority  brings  him  to  the 
holy  places  of  the  East,  makes  him  one  of  the  most  learned 


men  of  his  time,  and  settles 
Gallicia.4 

occurs  this  story  of  British  pilgrimage 
(550)  Elesbaau,  king  of  Ethiopia,  is 
said  to  have  sent  envoys  to  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  from  the  other  extremity 
of  Christendom,  to  lay  his  crown  at 
the  feet  of  Christ  (It.  Hi.  ii.  226; 
Acta  SS.  Oct.  x.  p.  758).  Were 
these,  by  any  chance,  the  ^Ethiopians 
whom  Antoninus  met  ? 

1  It.  Hi.  ii.  226  ; Acta  SS.  May  v. 
343-394,  etc. 


him  finally  as  a bishop  in 


2 It.  Hi.  ii.  229 ; Acta  SS.  March 
iii.  p.  89 ; Greg.  Tours,  De  Virt.  [or, 
Mirac.]  S.  Martini,  i.  c.  11. 

3 Who  died  c.  290. 

4 Greg.  Tour.  Hist.  Franc,  v.  38. 
“Martinus,”  says  pseudo-Isidore,  in 
Migne,  P.  L.  lxxxiii.  c.  1100,  “ Dumi- 
ensis  monasterii  sanctissimus  ponti- 
fex,  ex  Orientis  partibus  navigans, 
in  Galliciam  venit.” 


108  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


One  other  trace1  of  Western  pilgrimage  is  supposed  to 
be  discoverable  in  the  same  year  560  or  561,  but  this 
is  a very  shadowy  “ Anonymus  Gentilis  ex  Occidente,”  who 
cannot  be  further  traced. 

We  must  not  here  notice  at  any  length  the  work  of 
Procopius  “On  the  Buildings  of  Justinian,”  in  Jerusalem 
and  elsewhere,2 — its  relation  to  the  immediate  subject  of 
this  chapter  is  too  distant ; but  we  are  now  nearing  the  time 
of  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  the  latter  years  of  the  sixth 
century  accordingly  give  us  an  unusual  amount  of  material 
partly  gathered  from  his  pages. 

First  of  the  allusions  in  question  comes  that  to  St.  Tygris 
(or  Thecla,  a.d.  562-593) — a woman  of  Maurienna,3  in  Savoy, 
whose  journey  is  associated  with  that  of  some  monks  from 
the  same  city.  Prostrate  in  prayer,  she  passed  most  part  of 
three  years  at  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  seeking,  as  a sign  from 
God,  for  some  part  of  the  body  of  the  Great  Forerunner. 
At  last,  in  despair,  she  lay  for  seven  days  and  nights  with- 
out rising  from  the  pavement — meaning  not  to  stir  till  she 
had  obtained  her  request.  While  on  the  point  of  perishing 
of  hunger  and  exhaustion,  the  miracle  was  vouchsafed,4  and 
a thumb  of  the  saint  appeared  to  her.5  At  the  beginning 
of  her  travels  she  was  encouraged  to  undertake  the  journey 
by  the  visit  of  some  Irish  monks,  who  passed  through 
Maurienna  on  their  way  back  from  Jerusalem  to  “Scotia,” 


1 It.  Hi.  ii.  231. 

2 It.  Hi.  ii.  231;  Procop.  DeJEdi- 

ficiis.  Like  the  similar  work  of 
Eusebius,  “ On  the  Buildings  of  Con- 
stantine,” it  is  useful  for  Palestine 

topography ; and  it  gives  details 
about  the  frontier  fortresses  of  the 

Empire  which  show  a good  geo- 
graphical knowledge  of  the  Roman 
world,  as  it  was  in  about  a.d.  550. 


3 Maurienna  = St.  Jean  de  Mauri- 
enne,  near  Grenoble  (“inter  Alpes,” 
as  It.  Hi.  ii.  236). 

4 Greg.  T.  De  Gloria  MM.  i.  c.  xiv.  : 
“Apparuit  super  altare  pollex  miri 
candoris  ac  lucis  effulgens.” 

5 This  happened  in  the  days  of 
King  Gontram,  adds  the  office  of  St. 
Tygris.  It.  Hi.  ii.  232-234. 


III.] 


TYGRIS,  GERMANUS,  AND  ANTONINUS. 


109 


and  who  told  her  where  the  relics  might  be  found.  Her 
journey  lay  through  Rome  and  the  “ threshold  of  the 
apostles ; ” and  after  her  return  such  wonders  were  wrought 
in  Maurienna  by  the  newly  recovered  relics,  that  three 
bishops  from  neighbouring  towns,  notably  Turin,  came  to 
see  them  and  the  saint  who  had  brought  them. 

Another  and  later  account  brings  Tygris  and  her  relics 
into  “ Normannia,” 1 still  another  to  Mauritania;  but  to 
explain  how  the  Church  of  S.  Jean  de  Maurienne  gained 
possession  of  a certain  bone  that  purported  to  come  from 
Syria  is  the  main  point  of  the  story,  which,  after  all,  is  of 
a very  doubtful  authority  and  date. 

Hardly  less  doubtful  is  the  account,  not  found  in 
Gregory  of  Tours,  of  the  journey  of  St.  Germanus,2  bishop 
and  prefect  of  the  city  of  Paris,  to  Jerusalem  and  Con- 
stantinople, where  he  obtained  a collection  of  relics  from 
Justinian,  instead  of  gold  and  silver,  “ which  he  spurned.” 

Rather  more  certainty  attaches  to  the  next  of  our 
pilgrimages. 

In  569  the  historian  of  the  Franks 3 reports  the 
journey  of  Reovaldus  or  Reovalis,  and  others,  sent  out  by 
Queen  Radegund  through  the  whole  of  the  Levant  to  collect 
relics,  of  which  a great  number,  especially  from  Jerusalem, 
were  afterwards  to  be  seen  in  Poictiers. 

And  now  we  come  again  to  an  important  traveller, 
to  Antoninus  of  Placentia,  whose  journey,  in  or  about  the 
year  570,  shares  with  Silvia’s  peregrination  the  credit  of 
being  the  most  extensive,  curious,  and  suggestive  of  all 
the  pilgrim-records  before  the  rise  of  Islam.  His  “ Peram- 
bulation ” is  also  the  last  of  pre-Mohammedan  journeys 

1 It.  Hi.  ii.  236,  237.  3 Greg.  T.  De  Gl.  MM.,  i.  5 ; It. 

2 Acta  SS.  May  yi.  778 ; April  iii.  Hi.  ii.  239. 

p.  111. 


110  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


of  any  note,  and  in  it  we  find  the  superstition  and  muddle- 
headedness  of  its  class  developed  more  fully  than  in  any 
previous  example  : it  may  be  a question,  too,  whether  its 
inventive  faculty  is  not  as  strongly  marked  as  its  ignorance ; 
and  whether  Antonine  may  not  take  rank  as  a man  of 
genius,  who  contributed  somewhat  towards  the  mythology 
of  geography.  The  title  of  “Martyr,”  attached  to  the 
author,  is  probably  from  a confusion  with  an  earlier  pilgrim 
whom  we  have  noticed  already ; it  is  pretty  certain  that 
our  present  traveller  has  no  right  to  the  name.  But  we 
know  nothing  definite  about  him,  though  there  seems  little 
reason  to  question  that  he  really  made  his  journey,  as  he 
records  it,  at  the  end  of  the  Age  of  Justinian,  and  that  he 
came  from  “ Placentia  on  the  Padus,”  the  starting-point  of 
so  many  earlier  pilgrims.  Moreover,  it  may  be  granted,  as 
probable,  that  he  was  a priest,  or  professed  “ religious  ” of 
some  sort,  secular  or  regular.  The  friends  he  mentions — 
John,  husband  of  Thecla,  his  companion  and  fellow-towns- 
man, and  the  Lord  Paterius  his  fellow-countryman — seem 
to  be  only  known  from  his  notice  of  them. 

Among  the  extraordinary  blunders  which  have  given 
support  to  the  doubt  whether  Antonine  really  went  to  the 
East  at  all,  are  the  identifications  of  Neapolis  with  Samaria 
(c.  6) ; of  Gadara  with  “ Galaad,”  or  “ Gabaon  ” (c.  7)  ; 
of  Azotus  with  Lydda,  or  Diospolis ; and  of  Caesarea 
Philippi  with  Caesarea  on  the  coast  (cc.  25, 46)  : the  placing 
of  Scythopolis,  or  Bethshan,  “on  a mountain,”  though 
actually  in  a plain  (c.  8)  : and  the  daring  assertions  that 
nothing  will  float  in  the  Dead  Sea  (c.  10),  and  that  the 
Kedron  runs  into  the  Jordan  (c.  24).1  Over  and  above 


1 Cf.  Sir  C.  W.  Wilson,  pref.  in 
P.P.T.S.  edit. ; also  F.  Tuch’s  study, 

“ Antoninus,  seine  zeit  und  seine  Pil- 
gerfahrt,”  Leipzig,  1864;  Geyer’s 
essay,  “ Kritische  und  Sprachliche  i 


Erlauterungen  zu  Anton  ...”  1892 ; 
and  Gildermeister’s  edition  of  the 
text  of  Antoninus  (1889);  the  most 
valuable  of  recent  contributions. 


III.] 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANTONINUS. 


Ill 


these  pleasantries,  the  towns  he  mentions  in  his  visit  to 
Egypt  are  named  in  the  wrong  order  (c.  43),  and  the  same 
applies  to  his  notices  of  the  cities  of  Syria  (c.  46).  A corrupt 
text,  with  the  had  memory  and  exceptional  carelessness 
of  the  original  writer,  who  (in  c.  22)  confesses  that  he  had 
quite  forgotten  the  relics  shown  him  in  the  Church  of  Sion, 
and  (in  ch.  32)  attributes  Isaac’s  wells  at  Beersheba  to  Jacob, 
may  be  explanation  sufficient  of  a good  many  of  these 
mistakes;  but  in  the  case  of  some  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  Antoninus  shaped  his  tale  to  please  and  astonish  his 
readers,  who  were  only  too  glad  to  believe  where  they  could 
not  trace. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  passages  where  the  pilgrim 
records,  for  instance,  his  conversation  with  the  Bishop  of 
Berytus  upon  the  recent  earthquakes  (c.  1),  his  bathing  in 
the  fountain  of  Chana  (c.  4),  the  death  of  his  companion 
at  Gadara  (c.  7),  the  bringing  home  of  certain  dates  for 
Paterius  (c.  14),  the  passage  of  the  desert  (c.  36),  and  the 
visit  to  the  city  of  Phara  (c.  40)  are  all  fairly  good  evidence 
for  the  reality  of  his  journey.1 

Antonine’s  style  and  language  are  of  the  simplest;  he 
is  entirely  without  literary  and  rhetorical  form,  and  his 
choice  of  words  is  meagre;  the  same  expressions  are  con- 
stantly repeated ; and  the  whole  narrative  is  written  in  the 
late  “ vulgar  ” or  colloquial  Latin,  in  which  most  of  our 
pilgrim-records  are  cast,  and  to  which  even  Silvia  is  only  a 
partial  exception. 

With  all  its  shortcomings,  however,  this  perambulation, 
as  we  have  pointed  out  already,  gives  us  glimpses  of  a 
broader  world,  and  of  a more  active,  if  not  a more  intelligent 


' Points  that  occur  only  in  An- 
toninus are,  e.g.,  (1)  the  Spring  of 
Chana,  c.  4 ; (2)  Bahurim,  c.  16 ; 


(3)  the  Steps  to  Siloam,  c.  24 ; (4) 
Majumas  of  Ascalon,  c.  33. 


112  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


secular  interest  than  any  other  of  the  pilgrim-journeys  of 
the  sixth  century,  and  these  merits  may  be  set  off  against 
its  obvious  defects — a rather  grovelling  literalism,  a very  in- 
accurate recollection,  and  a strong  belief  in  magic,  witch- 
craft, and  diabolical  possession.1 

From  Italy  Antoninus  went  to  Constantinople,  at  a time 
(c.  560-570)  when  the  overland  route  must  have  been 
extremely  dangerous  from  the  raids  of  Lombards,  Avars,  and 
Gepids.  From  the  imperial  city,  again,  the  traveller  came 
by  sea  to  Cyprus  and  Syria,  landing  at  the  “Island  of 
Antaradus,” 2 and  thence  proceeding  to  Tripolis,  destroyed 
by  an  earthquake  in  the  time  of  Justinian — probably  in 
May,  526,  or  in  July,  551.  In  the  first  of  these  disasters 
Antioch  was  overthrown,  as  Cosmas  tells  us ; 3 in  the  latter, 
Beyrout  was  shaken ; but  in  which  Tripolis  suffered  is 
uncertain.  Visiting  Byblus,  Trieris  (Tridis?),  and  the 
“most  magnificent”  city  of  Beyrout,  the  pilgrim  every- 
where discovered  traces  of  the  recent  catastrophe,  which 
had  ruined  the  “ School,”  or  “ University,”  of  the  aforesaid 
Beyrout,  and  destroyed  thirty  thousand  people. 

Next,  in  Sidon,  clinging  to  the  slopes  of  Lebanon,  and 
still  partly  in  ruins,  Antonine  found  the  “vilest  of  man- 
kind.” Sarepta  appeared  to  him  “ small,  but  very  Christian,” 
with  all  the  relics  of  Elias : Tyre*  on  the  contrary,  seven 
miles  from  Sarepta,  as  Sarepta  from  Sidon,  was  very  wicked, 
with  such  luxury  as  passed  description;  silk  and  various 
kinds  of  woven  stuffs  were  worn  there,  as  was  fitting  in  a 
town  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Venus.  Ptolemais,  or 
Acre,  again,  was  a “ chaste  town,”  with  “ good  monasteries ; ” 


1 Cf.  cc.  25,  31,  42. 

2 Ruad  Island,  cf.  the  Bordeaux 

pilgrim.  Sir  C.  W.  Wilson  suggests 
that  Antoninus  went  by  land  only 


from  Antaradus  to  Berytus,  and  then- 
by  sea  from  Berytus  to  Ptolemais 
(pref.  to  P.P.T.  edit.  p.  v.). 

3  Cosmas,  Top.  Christ,  i.;  Agathias  ii- 


III.] 


ANTONINUS  IN  PHCENICIA  AND  GALILEE. 


113 


and  Antoninus  took  advantage  of  his  stay  here  to  visit 
Mount.  Carmel,  seeing  both  the  “ hamlets  of  the  Samaritans  ” 
under  the  hill,  and  the  “ monastery  of  Elisha”  upon  the 
ridge.  And  on  Mount  Carmel,  he  continues,  is  a small, 
round  stone,  solid  and  ringing  when  struck,  which  has  such 
virtue  that,  if  it  be  hung  on  to  any  woman  or  animal,  they 
will  never  miscarry. 

Reverently  prepared  for  further  wonders,  the  pilgrim 
followed  the  coast  to  Diocsesarea,  the  Sepphoris  of  Josephus, 
on  the  borders  of  Galilee,  where  he  “ adored  the  pail  and 
basket  of  blessed  Mary.”  Three  miles  beyond  this  was 
Cana  of  Galilee,  where  he  rested  on  the.  “ very  same  couch  ” 
as  did  the  Lord,  at  the  famous  wedding  feast,  “ and  here  I, 
unworthy  that  I am,  did  inscribe  the  names  of  my  parents.” 
Two  water-pots  (relics  of  the  miracle  ?)  Antoninus  found 
there,  and  one  of  these  he  filled  with  wine,  and  dedicated 
at  the  altar  of  the  church  ; and  in  the  fountain  of  the  town 
he  bathed  “ for  a blessing  ” — by  this  account  fixing  the  site 
of  his  Cana  at  Kefr  Kenna,  as  there  is  no  spring  at  the  rival 
site  (Khurbet  Kana).1 

In  Nazareth  our  traveller  was  shown  many  excellent 
things : as,  for  instance,  the  book  from  which  Christ  learnt 
His  ABC ; and  the  bench  upon  which  He  sat  at  school  with 
the  other  children,  and  which  could  now  be  only  moved  by 
Christians.  Many  cures,  too,  were  wrought  by  the  garments 
of  the  Virgin,  that  were  still  to  be  found  in  her  house ; and 
such  was  the  virtue  of  the  place,  that  the  hatred  which  most 


1 Tobler  reads  “ filled  with  water 
and  brought  forth  wine,” — apparently 
an  (almost  blasphemous)  gloss.  See 
Gildemeister’s  note,  and  C.  W.  Wil- 
son, pref.  to  P.P.T.  edit.,  pp.  v.,  vi. 
This  incident  can  hardly  be  thought 
a conclusive  proof  of  Antonine’s 


status  as  a priest,  as  Delpit  takes  it 
(“Anciens  Pelerinages,”  180).  On 
the  name-scribbling,  see  Letronne’s 
collection  of  similar  instances  from 
Bethlehem  and  Jerusalem,  especially 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  in  Journal  des 
Savants , 1844. 


I 


114  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


Jews  felt  for  Christians  was  here  exchanged  for  love,  while 
the  beauty  of  the  Hebrew  women  of  Nazareth  was  “ all 
excelling,”  due,  as  it  was,  to  St.  Mary,  whom  they  claimed 
as  their  parent.1 

Thence  up  Mount  Tabor,  six  miles  in  circuit,  three  miles 
in  ascent,  and  with  a “ plain  of  one  mile  ” at  the  top,2  and 
down  again  to  the  city  “ once  called  Samaria,3  and  now 
Neapolis,”  where  Antonine  noticed  the  well  at  which  Christ 
talked  with  the  woman,  and  which  we  may  suppose  the 
pilgrim  visited  by  a short  turn  from  his  straight  road.  Here 
a church  had  been  built  over  the  well,4  and  in  it  a water-pot 
was  preserved  from  which  the  Lord  was  said  to  have  drunk 
— now,  of  course,  working  many  miraculous  cures.5  ^ 

From  Neapolis  Antoninus  came  to  the  city  of  Tiberias, 
to  Capernaum,  and  (travelling  up  the  course  of  Jordan)  to 
the  fountains  of  Jor  and  Dan  ; then,  turning  south  again,  he 
crossed  the  river  to  “ G-adara,  which  is  Galaad,”  6 with  its 
warm  springs,  like  those  of  Tiberias,  at  which  visions  of 
healing  were  of  regular  occurrence.  Thp  cure,  at  any  rate, 
was  ineffective  for  Antonine’s  companion,  John  of  Placentia, 
who  died  here ; 7 and  our  author,  resuming  his  journey, 
passed  on  to  “ Scythopolis,  the  metropolis  of  Galilee,  stand- 
ing on  a hill,” — an  account  unfortunately  at  issue  with  the 


1 0.  5. 

2 l.e.  probably  one  mile  in  circuit. 
Here,  of  course,  were  tbe  three 
churches,  “ at  the  spot  where  it  was 
said,  Let  us  make  here  three  taber- 
nacles.” 

8 An  apparent  confusion  between 
Sichem  (Shechem)  and  Samaria. 

* Possibly  a confusion  between 

the  Church  of  St.  John  at  Samaria, 

and  that  “ of  the  Well,”  at  Shechem. 
Cf.  Jerome,  Per.  S.  Paulse,  c.  16,  who 

mentions  the  church ; Arculf,  ii.  19, 


who  describes  the  church  as  cruciform, 
with  a diagram ; and  Willibald,  c.  27, 
who  mentions  church  and  well,  as 
near  Sebaste.  Cf.  P.P.T.  edit.,  which 
proposes  to  dislocate  this  section, 
and  put  it  in  c.  8,  after  mention  of 
Scythopolis : a very  fragmentary  re- 
form, where  the  whole  text  is  Ko- 
ranic in  its  confusion. 

5 C.  6. 

6 Gabaon  in  inferior  manuscripts. 

7 Caps.  7,  8. 


III.] 


ANTONINUS  IN  CENTRAL  PALESTINE. 


115 


facts,  but  amply  covered  by  tbe  more  important  record,  that 
“ here  St.  John  performed  many  miracles.”  At  Sebaste,  his 
next  station,  the  pilgrim  found  himself  a mark  for  scorn  and 
spitting.1  “ Through  the  open  country,  the  cities  and  the 
villages  of  the  Samaritans,  the  Jews  followed  us,  burning  our 
footsteps  with  straw.  And  such  is  their  hatred  for  Christ, 
that  they  will  scarcely  give  an  answer  to  Christians.  Money 
even  they  will  not  take  from  your  hand,  but  first  throw  the 
coins  into  water.  And  beware  of  spitting  yourself  in  this 
country,  if  you  would  not  give  offence.” 

Next  coming  to  the  scenes  of  the  miracle  of  the  Five 
Loaves,  of  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  by  the  Israelites,  of 
Christ’s  baptism,  and  of  the  translation  of  Elias,  on  the  left 
or  eastern  bank  of  Jordan,  Antoninus  saw  the  fountain 
where  John  baptized,  the  valley  where  the  ravens  fed  Elias, 
and  the  little  hill  of  Hermon,  “from  which  ascends  the 
cloud  that  distils  upon  Jerusalem,  as  is  said  in  the  psalm, 
‘ The  dew  of  Hermon  that  fell  upon  the  Mount  of  Sion.’  ” 
“ And  near  here  is  the  city  called  Liviada,2  where  the  two 
tribes  and  a half  of  Israel  tarried  before  they  crossed  over 
J ordan ; and  here  are  the  hot  springs  of  Moses,  where  lepers 
are  cleansed ; ” while  only  a little  further  is  the  “ Salt  Sea, 
into  which  the  Jordan  flows  below  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,”  in 
which  “ no  stick  or  straw  can  float,  and  no  man  can  swim  ; 
but  whatever  is  thrown  into  it  is  swallowed  up  and  sinks 
to  the  bottom,” — as  exact  a falsehood  as  was  ever  told  by 
traveller. 

By  the  side  of  Jordan3  Antoninus  celebrated  the 
Epiphany,  and  here  he  recounts  the  yearly  miracle  at  the 


1 Possibly,  however,  this  section 
is  interpolated,  though  given  by 
Tobler. 

2 Or,  Salamaida,  caps.  9,  10.  Cf. 

Silvia’s  account  of  Livias  and  Theo- 


dosius, c.  xix.,  who  probably  refers 
to  the  modern  Tell-er-Ramah  and 
Tell-er-Hamma. 

3 0.  11. 


116  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


baptism  of  catechumens.  “ At  the  hour  when  the  water  is 
blessed,  the  Jordan,  with  a roar,  returns  upon  itself,  and  the 
upper  water  stands  still  until  the  baptism  is  finished ; but 
the  lower  runs  off  into  the  sea,  as  says  the  psalmist,  ‘ The 
sea  saw  that  and  fled  : J ordan  was  driven  back.’  ” 1 Many 
Egyptian  Christians  now  come  to  this  solemnity,  adds  our 
pilgrim,  transferring  to  the  Jordan  the  old  “homage  of  the 
Nile.” 

The  quaint  and  venerable  stories  that  had  long  been 
told  of  Jericho,  the  Cities  of  the  Plain,  and  the  Lower  Jordan 
valley  do  not  lose  any  of  their  piquancy  in  the  hands  of 
the  Placentian  traveller.  Thus,  at  Jericho,  the  Lord’s  holy 
field  was  sown  by  him  with  just  three  measures  of  wheat ; 
and  from  the  dates  growing  in  the  sacred  plain  Antoninus 
brought  home  some,  and  gave  one  to  the  “ Lord  Paterius, 
the  patrician,”  who  may  be  supposed  to  have  represented 
the  Roman  government  in  some  part  of  North  Italy.  Again, 
the  tree  of  Zacchseus  appeared  still  withered  to  the  devout 
observer ; clouds  and  a sulphurous  stench  hung  for  ever 
over  the  ashes  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah ; 2 as  to  Lot’s  wife,  and 
her  salt  pillar,  the  report  was  false  “ that  she  is  diminished 
in  size  by  the  licking  of  animals.”  On  the  contrary,  the 
statue  was  just  the  same  as  it  had  always  been.  * 

From  the  vale  of  Sodom,3  Antoninus  toiled  up  the  hills 
to  Jerusalem,  passing  through  Bahurim,  and  crossing  the 
brow  of  the  Mount  of  Olives.  He  entered  the  Holy  City 4 


1 Omitted  in  some  manuscripts. 

8 Which  Antoninus  places  at  the 
north-west  end  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

3 Caps.  13-15.  It  is  in  relation  to 
this  district  — the  “desert  beyond 
Jordan,”  the  “land  of  Segor,  near 

the  Salt  Sea  ” — that  Antoninus  tells, 
in  c.  34,  the  story  of  the  fifteen  or 
eighteen  consecrated  maidens  who 
had  tamed  a lion,  and  kept  it  close 


to  their  cell  (“ . . . Leonem  pitulum 
mansuetum,  qui  dum  appropinquas- 
semus  cellulse  ante  rugitum  illius 
omnes  animales,  quos  habuimus, 
minxerunt,”  etc.) 

4 Caps.  16, 17.  Cf.  Arculf,  LI.  As 
Wilson  conjectures,  by  a postern  ad- 
joining the  present  Golden  Gate,  now 
walled  up. 


III.] 


ANTONINUS  IN  JERUSALEM. 


117 


by  “ many  steps  from  Gethsemane,”  tbrongb  a gate  adjoin- 
ing wbat  was  once  the  Beautiful  Gate  of  the  temple,  and, 
“ bowing  to  the  earth  and  kissing  the  ground,”  he  visited 
and  adored  the  “ monument  ” of  the  Lord  — the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  Here  he  found  an  infinite  display  of  devotion 
and  countless  votive-offerings,  giving  the  tomb  the  appear- 
ance of  the  “ winning-post  on  a race-course.”  Among  other 
wonders,  developed  by  generations  of  sight-seers,  was  the 
miracle  of  the  Star;  which  appeared  in  heaven  precisely 
when  (and  whenever)  the  true  Cross  was  brought  out  into 
the  church  to  be  worshipped,  retiring  again  when  the  relic 
was  taken  back  to  its  place.  The  Tower  of  David,  “ where 
he  sung  the  psalter,”  was  next  visited ; and  here  pilgrims 
might  discern  at  midnight  a murmur  of  mysterious  voices 
rising  from  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  “ in  the  places  that 
look  towards  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.”1  Mount  Sion  was 
likewise  rich  in  marvels, — such  as  the  corner-stone  that  the 
builders  rejected  because  it  was  so  ugly , which  Antoninus 
put  to  his  ear  and  found  it  giving  out  a sound  like  the 
“ hum  of  many  men ; ” or  the  column  of  scourging,  on 
which  Christ’s  hands  left  their  imprint,  “ so  that  a measure 
is  taken  from  thence  for  various  weaknesses,  and  those  who 
wear  it  round  their  necks  are  healed.”  All  the  relics  seen 
by  earlier  pilgrims  were  shown  to  this  last  stranger  from 
Italy,  “ and  many  others  which  I have  forgotten,”  not  to 
omit  the  skull  of  the  martyr  Theodota,  “ from  which  many 
drink  water  for  a blessing ; and  I drank.” 

From  Sion  2 our  pilgrim  went  to  see  the  hospice  with 
“ beds  for  more  than  three  thousand  sick  folk,”  built  by 
Justinian  in  the  temple  area ; the  Prsetorium,  where  the  Lord 
was  tried ; and  the  marks  of  Christ’s  feet  upon  the  square 
stone  on  which  the  Accused  had  stood.  “And  many  are 
1 Caps.  18,  20-22.  2 Caps.  22,  23. 


118  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


the  virtues  of  that  stone ; for  men  take  the  measure  of  His 
footprints,  and  bind  them  upon  their  bodies  for  divers  weak- 
nesses, and  are  healed.”  Then,  after  visiting  the  “ ancient  ” 
(or  “ double  ” ?)  gate  of  the  city,  the  pool  of  Siloam,  and 
the  brook  Kedron,  which  “runs  into  the  Jordan  below 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,”1  Antonine  next  came  to  the  iron 
chain  with  which  “ unhappy  Judas  ” hanged  himself,  to  “ the 
stone  that  cried  out,”  and  to  the  column  of  scourging,  outside 
Jerusalem,  on  the  road  to  Diospolis  (Lydda),  “which  was 
anciently  called  Azotus.”  And  this  column,2  he  tells  us,  to 
which  Christ  was  first  led,  was  raised  by  a cloud,  and  fled 
away,  and  was  deposited  in  this  place.  The  truth  of  this 
legend  was  manifest  from  the  fact  that  the  pillar  had  no 
foundation,  but  merely  stood  upon  the  earth ; and  that  it 
was  still  endued  with  the  power  of  casting  out  demons.  y 
Returning  once  more  to  the  city,  Antoninus  now  set  out 
for  Bethlehem,  Hebron,  and  Mamre,  in  the  south 3 (where 
his  journey  is  unusually  lacking  in  novelties),  and  for 
Gibeah  (or,  as  he  calls  it,  Gilboa),  Ascalon,  and  Gaza  in  the 
south-west.  Twenty  miles  from  Jerusalem,  he  came  to  the 
mount  “ where  David  killed  Goliath,4  and  Saul  died  with 
Jonathan,  where  rain  never  falls,5  and  where  in  the  night- 
watches  unclean  spirits  are  seen  whirled  about  like  fleeces 
of  wool  or  the  waves  of  the  sea.”  Gaza  “ the  magnificent  ” 
— chaste,  liberal,  and  a lover  of  pilgrims — he  reached  after 
a journey  through  a country  rich  in  sacred  memories, 
“where  Samson  slew  a thousand  with  the  jawbone  of  an 
ass,” 6 “ where  Zacharias  was  murdered,”  and  “ where  Isaiah 


1 Caps.  24,  25. 

2 Cf.  Theodos.  c.  24  (Tobl.);  Willi- 
bald, c.  25. 

3 Caps.  27-31. 

4 The  tomb  of  Goliath,  Antoninus 

says,  was  marked  by  an  immense 


heap  of  stones,  because  every  passer- 
by was  accustomed  to  throw  three 
upon  the  “ accursed.” 

5 According  to  David’s  curse,  “Ye 
mountains  of  Gilboa.” 

6 Caps.  31-33. 


III.] 


ANTONINUS  AT  SINAI  AND  ELATH. 


119 


was  sawn  asunder.”1  And  now,  fairly  started  upon  his 
further  wanderings,  Antoninus  entered  the  desert,  passed 
through  Abila,  Ailah,  or  Elath,2  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  of 
Akabah,  and,  after  eight  days,  reached  Horeb  and  Sinai. 
On  the  way  he  saw  a few  men  on  camels,  who  fled  before 
him ; and  this  occurrence  somehow  reminded  him  of  the 
“ Ethiopians  ” he  once  met  in  Jerusalem  with  “ ears  and 
noses  slit,”  and  “rings  upon  their  fingers  and  their  feet,” 
who  had  told  him  a strange  story  of  servitude.3  They  were 
so  marked,  they  said,  by  the  Emperor  Trajan,  “ for  a sign.” 
Saracen  beggars  and  idolaters  swarmed  on  this  frontier  of 
Arabia;  twelve  thousand,  Antoninus  reckoned,  were  going 
on  festival  at  this  very  time  “ into  the  greater  desert : ” but 
he  was  consoled  for  this  multitude  of  sinners  all  hasting  to 
do  evil  by  the  concourse  of  monks  and  hermits  at  Mount 
Sinai.4  Yet  even  here  false  gods  had  penetrated.  At  one 
place  upon  the  mountain  the  Saracens  had  a marble  idol, 
white  as  snow.  At  the  time  of  their  festival  this  marble 
changed  colour  under  the  moonlight ; and  when  they  began 
to  worship,  it  became  as  black  as  pitch : but  as  soon  as  the 
pollution  of  their  idolatry  was  over,  the  original  whiteness 
returned. 


The  Bedouin  festival  had  given  a certain  security  to  the 
desert  journey  that  Antoninus  was  making ; but  now  it  was 
drawing  to  an  end,  and  he  hastened  to  return  to  Elath,  then 


1 Eleutheropolis  was  the  traditional 
scene  of  Samson’s  victory ; Zakariyeh, 
of  Zacharias’  martyrdom ; and  the 
tomb  beneath  Si  loam,  of  Isaiah’s 
sufferings.  Cf.  Theodosius,  c.  22 
(in  Tobler). 

2 Caps.  34,  35.  This  is  the  Elusa 

of  the  Pentinger  Table,  seventy-one 

Eoman  miles  south  of  Jerusalem ; it 
was  converted  to  Christianity  by  a 
mission  journey  of  Jerome’s  friend 


Hilarion. 

3 Were  these  the  envoys  of  King 
Elesbaan,  who  visited  Jerusalem 
c.  a.d.  550  ? (vid.  supra). 

4 Caps.  35-38.  Antoninus  tells  us, 
in  c.  37,  of  the  chapel  at  the  top  of 
Jebel  Musa,  whose  ruins  are  still  to 
be  seen.  For  the  following  descrip- 
tion cf.  Antoninus  the  Elder,  a.d. 
303,  304. 


120  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 

a centre  of  the  Indian  and  Red  Sea  trade,  where  the  visitor 
might  see  ships  from  India  laden  with  “ divers  spices.”  But 
our  pilgrim,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Egypt,  now  turned 
west,  and  struggled  through  Phara  (Feiran),  Magdalum, 
Sochot,  and  the  " oratory  of  Moses  ” to  Clysma,  or  Suez, 
“ where  also  come  ships  from  India.” 1 

The  place  of  the  passage  of  the  Israelites  through  the 
Red  Sea  was  now,  he  tells  us,  a tidal  gulf,  and  at  ebb  tide 
the  marks  of  Pharaoh’s  army  and  the  tracks  of  his  chariot- 
wheels  were  still  to  be  seen,  “ but  all  the  arms  have  been 
turned  into  marble.”  Modern  wonders,  too,  were  not  wanting 
here  to  balance  the  ancient : in  Suez,  Antoninus  ate  of 
fresh  green  nuts  from  India,  which  many  believed  to  come 
from  Paradise  ; “ and  such  is  their  goodness  that,  however 
many  taste  of  them,  they  are  satisfied.”  Besides  this,  the 
“ island  of  rock  oil  ” ( 'petroleum ),  within  twelve  miles  of  the 
port,  was  famous  from  its  powers  of  ejecting  devils  from 
the  sick,  calming  the  sea,  and  spreading  a sulphurous  stench 
for  miles  around.2 

From  Suez,  Antoninus  visited  a cave  of  one  of  the  first 
monks  (of  “ blessed  Paul  ”)  at  Syracumba  (Deir  Bolos),  on 
the  western  shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  thence  made  his  way 
through  the  desert  to  the  Cataracts  of  the  Nile,  “ where  the 
water  rises  to  a certain  mark  ” — probably  the  Nilometer  at 
Assouan.  At  this  point  his  account  becomes  again,  as  in 
central  Palestine,  extremely  confused.  He  tells  us  that 
Babylonia  (Old  Cairo)  is  close  to  the  cataracts,  and  traces 
his  further  wandering  in  Egypt  through  Tanis  to  Memphis 
and  Antinoe,  near  the  modern  Beni  Hassan.  Probably  his 
real  course  was  from  the  Monastery  of  St.  Paul  to  Assouan, 
and  thence  down  the  river  to  the  places  of  the  Exodus  and 
the  Pyramids  or  “ Barns  of  Joseph.” 

2 C.  42.  Cf.  Orosius. 


1 Caps.  40,  41. 


III.]  ANTONINUS  IN  EGYPT  AND  MESOPOTAMIA.  121 


Antoninus  seems  to  have  quitted  Egypt  at  Alexandria,1 
which  he  reached  by  a boat-journey  through  a marsh  swarm- 
ing with  crocodiles,  and  declared  to  be  “splendid,  but 
frivolous,”  a lover  of  pilgrims,  but  afflicted  with  heresies. 

The  rest  of  his  journey  is  a bald  itinerary  of  a very 
extensive  wandering — from  Alexandria  to  Jerusalem  (where 
he  was  detained  some  time  through  sickness,  tempered  by 
visions),  from  Jerusalem  to  Joppa  and  Caesarea  Philippi 
(which  he  confuses  with  Stratos  tower , or  the  Caesarea  on 
the  coast) ; thence  to  Damascus,  Heliopolis  or  Baalbec, 
Emesa,  famous  for  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist  in  a glass 
jar,  and  Apamea,  “ most  splendid,  in  which  is  all  the  nobility 
of  the  Syrians.”2  Then,  after  a visit  to  Greater  Antioch, 
on  the  Orontes,  he,  like  Silvia,  struck  east,  entered  Meso- 
potamia, and  reached  as  far  as  Chalcis  (Kinnisrin),  Carrhee 
(Haran),  and  Sura  (Surieh),  where  he  mentions  a great 
bridge  crossing  the  Euphrates,  and  the  martyr-memorials  of 
Sergius  and  Bacchus,  in  the  neighbouring  towns  of  Bar- 
barissus  and  Tetrapyrgia.  Here  ends  the  pilgrimage,  and 
Antonine’s  own  record. 

The  return  home  is  described  apparently  by  a later 
hand,  without  a word  of  detail : “ Crossing  the  sea,  we  camo 
to  Italy,  our  own  country,  and  to  Placentia,  our  own  city.”  3 

The  remaining  notices  of  pilgrim-travel  in  the  last  years 
of  the  sixth  century  are  chiefly  from  Gregory  of  Tours. 
About  575  a nameless  stranger,  just  returned  from  Jerusalem,4 
showed  the  chronicler  a silken  vestment,  in  which  he  said 
the  Cross  had  once  been  wrapped,  and  which  had  come  inta 
his  possession  in  Jerusalem,  while  in  the  service  of  Futes 
the  Abbot.  Again,  in  577,  Vuinochus,  or  Vuanochus,5 


1 Caps.  43-45. 

2 Caps.  46,  47. 

3 C.  48. 


4 De  G.  M.  i.  6. 

5 Hist.  Franc,  v.  22,  viii.  34. 


122  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Ch. 


arrived  at  Tours  from  Britain,  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem, 
“ without  clothes,  except  a sheepskin  bared  of  its  wool.” 
He  seems  to  have  been  hospitably  entertained  by  Gregory 
himself,  and  sent  on  his  way  with  a rather  better  equip- 
ment. Once  more,  in  578,  Gregory,1  afterwards  bishop  of 
Agrigentum  (with  others),  went  from  Sicily  to  the  holy 
places  of  Syria;  about  579,  an  intended  journey  of  an;  un- 
named envoy  of  Gun  tram,  king  of  the  Franks,  to  Jerusalem, 
is  reported  by  Paul  the  Deacon,  the  historian  of  the 
Lombards ; 2 and  some  time  before  the  year  586,  various 
people  who  had  seen  a wonderful  amber  statue  of  the 
Bedeemer  at  the  source  of  the  Jordan  ;3  a deacon  who  had 
visited  the  miraculous  well  and  star  of  the  Virgin  at 
Nazareth ; and  a leper  named  John,  who,  like  manj^  other 
sufferers  of  Gregory’s  acquaintance,  had  been  cured,  after 
the  manner  of  Naaman,  by  bathing  in  the  Jordan,  all 
related  their  pilgrimages  to  the  annalist  of  Tours. 

About  587  occurs  the  somewhat  doubtful  journey  of  the 
Gallic  saint  Agilus,4  to  fast  and  pray  at  the  sepulchre  of  the 
Lord ; and  a few  years  later,  a new  age  of  Western  history 
commences  with  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  the  Great,  who 
also  begins  a new  era  of  ecclesiastical  intercourse  between 
East  and  West.  In  591  and  595  his  legates  carry  his 
missives  to  the  patriarchs  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch.5  In 


1 It.  Hi.  ii.  243,  Migne,  P.  G. 
xcviii.  etc.,  567-579. 

2 Paul.  Diac.  iii.  33. 

3 Cf.  Theodosius,  xxviii.,  in  Tobl. 
(=  xiii.  in  Gildermeister) ; G.  T.  De 
G.  MM.  i.  1 ; i.  21 ; i.  19. 

4 Acta  SS.,  Aug.  vi.  p.  567. 

5 G.  Ep.  i.  25.  Three  notices  in 
It.  Hi.  ii.  p.  253,  bear  somewhat,  if 
only  indirectly,  on  our  subject : — 

a.  592,  Apr.  “ Rusticianam  patri- 
ciam  a consilio  eundi  ad  loca  sancta 
deflexise  miratur  S.  Gregorius 


(Papa).” 

j3.  591.  “Eusebius,  Syrus  Nego- 
ciator,  Parisiensis  fit  Episcopus” 
(Greg.  Tours,  Hist.  Franc,  x.  26). 

7.  594.  “ Cosmas  Syrus,  ut  vide- 
tur,  mercator  in  Italia  et  Sicilia 
degit  ” (Greg.  P.  Ep.  iv.  45,  iii.  58). 
Two  notices  on  It.  Hi.  p.  254, ditto: 
a.  595.  “ Joann es  abbas  Persa,  qui 
Romam  etiam  adierat.” 

j8.  595.  “ Petrus,  presbyter  ex 
Roma”  (a  doubtful  pilgrimage  to 
Palestine). 


III.] 


POPE  GREGORY  I.  AND  PILGRIMAGE. 


123 


594  he  induces  a Roman  lady,  Rusticiana,  to  go  on  pil- 
grimage to  Mount  Sinai  and  Jerusalem,  and  writes  to  her 
while  still  on  her  travels.1  Several  return  embassies  from 
Syria  to  Rome — for  instance,  in  595  and  596 — are  also 
recorded.  In  597,  one  Peter,  acolyte  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  has  fled  to  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  and  his  extra- 
dition is  demanded  from  the  patriarch. 

In  June,  September,  and  November  of  the  same  year, 
597,  and  in  April  and  May  of  599,  legates  bearing  Pope 
Gregory’s  letters  arrive  at  Antioch  and  Jerusalem;  in  the 
last  year  of  the  century,  one  “ Simplicius,  a Roman,”  goes 
to  Mount  Sinai  (and  apparently  to  Palestine),  as  appears 
from  two  letters  of  the  pope’s  ; and  the  same  pontiff’s  letters 
are  conveyed  in  the  same  year  to  the  abbot  of  the  great 
Monastery  of  St.  Catherine  on  the  Mount  of  God.2 

In  or  about  the  year  600  also  occurs  the  interesting 
mission  of  Probus,3  the  abbot  sent  by  Gregory  to  build  a 
hospice  for  Latin  pilgrims  at  Jerusalem.  John  the  Deacon, 
in  his  life  of  the  pope,  declares4  that  he  sent  an  annual 
supply  of  food  and  clothing  to  the  servants  of  God  in  the 
holy  city  of  Palestine,  and  in  the  holy  mount  of  Arabia. 
In  all  this,  he  recalls  the  action  of  Constantine  and  Justinian, 
and  their  erection  of  pilgrim  churches  and  hospices.  We 
shall  see,  later  on,  how  Charles  the  Great  follows  the  same 
example. 

To  the  sixth  century  also  belongs  the  “ Notitia  ” of  the 
patriarchates  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  a list  of  all  the 
sees  to  be  found  in  these  two  great  provinces  of  the  Eastern 


1 G.  Ep.  iv.  46,  viii.  22,  xi.  43, 
xiii.  22. 

2 Cf.  G.  Ep.  vii.  27,  32, 34 ; viii.  2, 
>6;  ix.  49;  xi.  1,  2. 

3 G.  Ep.  xiii.  28 ; Acta  SS.  March 
ii.  150, 157. 

4 ii.  7,  § 52 ; ii.  2,[§  11.  Cf.  the  note 


under  600,  It.  Hi.  ii.  257:  “S.  Gre- 
gorius Magnus  pro  peregrinis  loqui- 
tur. ‘Peregrini  ad  hospitium  non 
solum  invitandi  sunt,  sed  etiam  tra- 
hendi.’  ” Gregory,  “Evangelical 
Homilies,”  II.  xxiii.  1. 


124  THE  PILGRIMS,  FROM  JUSTINIAN  TO  MOHAMMED.  [Oh.  III. 

Church,  and  interesting  as  a memorial  of  their  state  shortly 
before  the  Moslem  invasion.  The  remaining  pilgrimages  of 
the  pre-Mohammedan  time,  such  as  that  of  the  daughters  of 
King  HClla  from  Britain,  are  unimportant ; and  the  victory 
of  Islam  seems  to  have  discouraged  Christian  travel  of  the 
sort  for  a long  time.  But  before  this,  the  Holy  city  had 
already  been  stormed,  sacked,  and  terribly  injured,  by 
Chosroes  of  Persia,  in  615 ; most  of  Constantine’s  buildings 
in  Jerusalem  were  now  ruined  by  the  fire-worshippers ; the 
true  cross  was  carried  away  beyond  the  Tigris ; and  the 
victory  of  the  Christian  Heraclius  in  627  only  recovered  the 
place  for  ten  years.  In  637  the  Patriarch  Sophronius 
surrendered  to  the  Caliph  Omar,  and,  from  the  time  of  this 
final  profanation,  there  is  a marked  decline  in  pilgrim 
records,  if  not  in  pilgrim  journeys.  Waimer,  the  Duke  of 
Champagne,  is  said  to  have  gone  to  Palestine  in  678  to 
expiate  his  share  in  the  murder  of  St.  Leger ; and  Wulph- 
lagius,  a country  priest  in  the  diocese  of  Amiens,  travelled 
Sionwards  about  the  same  time,  for  the  sake  of  devotion  : 
but  neither  of  these  left  any  account  of  their  wanderings.1 
Till  the  visit  of  Arculf,  more  than  a century  later  than 
Theodosius,  he  and  Antoninus  find  no  one  to  follow  in  their 
steps,  no  Western  Catholic  who  both  visits  and  describes  the 
new  Palestine — Palestine  under  the  Moslems. 

1 See  Acta  Sanctorum,  June  ii.  30 ; “ Histoire  Litteraire  de  la  France,” 
vi.  475. 


( 125  ) 


CHAPTER  IY. 

THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS — CIRC.  A.D.  680-870. 
I.  Arculf,  CIRC.  A.D.  680. 


The  next  period  of  Christian  travel  opens  with  Arculf  at 
the  close  of  the  seventh  century.  And  in  the  interval 
between  Antoninus  and  Procopius,1  and  this  same  Arculf 
there  had  taken  place  the  third  of  the  revolutions  by  which 
we  pass  from  the  old  Roman  world  into  the  mediaeval.  The 
first  of  these  changes  was  the  conversion  of  the  Roman 
State;  the  second  was  the  collapse  of  the  purely  Latin 
Empire,  and  the  complete  conquest  of  all  the  provinces  to 
the  west  of  the  Adriatic  by  the  barbarians  from  beyond  the 
Rhine  and  Danube ; the  third  was  the  rise  of  a new  race 
and  a new  religion.  In  622  Mohammed  rallied  his  followers 
at  Medina  ; and  within  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  Hegira, 
under  himself  and  his  first  two  successors,  or  caliphs,  all 


1 Procopius  does  not  call  for  a 
detailed  account  in  this  connection. 
Here  we  may  notice  how  much  his 
tone,  as  that  of  an  educated  man  of 
the  world,  contrasts  with  that  of  con- 
temporary pilgrimage.  In  his  most 
geographical  treatise,  for  instance — 
that  on  the  “ Buildings  of  Justinian” 
— there  is  only  one  startling  remark, 
the  mention  of  the  Nile  “ which  flows 
from  the  Indies.”  In  this  work  Pro- 
copius describes  both  the  churches  and 
fortresses  of  the  Empire,  especially 


on  the  eastern  and  south-eastern 
frontier,  very  carefully,  dealing  even 
with  erections  among  the  Lazi  of 
Colchis,  in  the  Crimea,  beyond  the 
Euphrates  and  upon  the  Upper  Nile, 
as  well  as  along  the  southern  border 
of  the  African  or  Carthaginian  pro- 
vince ; and  thus,  in  giving  us  a view  of 
the  Roman  world  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, reminds  us  somewhat  of  Strabo 
and  his  description  of  that  same 
world  under  Augustus. 


126 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


the  Bible  lands  were  overrun  by  the  Saracens,  and  Christian 
pilgrimage  at  once  assumed  a new  character.  It  was  no 
longer  the  same  thing — easy,  natural,  patronised  by  the 
State,  performed  by  many  if  not  by  most  of  the  religious 
leaders.  “ Blessed  be  the  one  God,”  was  now  the  cry  of  those 
who  ruled  in  Jerusalem,  in  Damascus,  in  Alexandria,  and  in 
the  Thebaid ; “ blessed  be  the  undivided  Unity,  who  hath 
neither  consort  nor  son.”  Christians  were  no  longer  masters  ; 
no  longer  at  home  in  the  home  of  their  religion.  They 
came  and  went,  they  resided  there  on  sufferance.  The 
servant  abideth  not  in  the  house  for  ever. 

Deprived  of  sovereign  power  in  nearly  all  of  Asia,  and 
in  the  whole  of  Africa,  the  Catholic  Church,  dependent  as 
it  was  upon  the  Boman  Empire  (for  only  heresies,  such  as 
the  Nestorian,  have  ever  flourished  in  a truly  natural  and 
healthy  manner  among  the  native  Asiatic  states),  became 
mainly  European  and  Aryan  in  character,  and  addressed 
itself  to  the  vital  problem  of  government  and  organisation. 
The  local  Church  of  old  Rome  became  the  centre  of  its 
system.  The  earlier  ideas  of  democratic  or  aristocratic 
government  in  the  spiritual  kingdom  yielded  more  and 
more  to  the  monarchical  rule  of  the  Italian  popes,  and  by 
their  efforts  the  idea  of  a Crusade,  of  a holy  and  perpetual 
war  against  the  Moslem  interloper,  was  gradually  developed,1 
with  momentous  results  to  the  exploration  of  the  world. 
But  within  thirty  years  of  the  death  of  Gregory  the  Great 
the  intercourse  of  trade  and  of  friendship,  of  learning  and  of 
religion,  between  the  Levant  and  Western  Europe  began  to 
be  seriously  curtailed ; and  independent  Christendom  (the 
States  of  Italy,  Germany,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain,  as  far  as 
they  were  saved  from  northern  heathendom  and  southern 

1 Though  it  was  the  Norsemen  I the  requisite  energy  to  European 
who  made  this  practical  by  giving  | society. 


IV.]  THE  WESTERN  WORLD  IN  ARCULF’S  DAY.  127 

Islam)  was  barbarised  for  generations  by  the  double  attack. 
It  is  true  that  the  civilisation  of  the  converted  Empire  was 
rapidly  penetrating  the  European  conquerors,  who  reverenced 
Rome  and  her  faith,  and  were  willing  to  learn  from  her. 
But  the  triumph  of  Mussulman  armies  in  Asia  and  Africa, 
and  the  persistent  danger  of  their  attacks,  was  a more  serious 
hindrance.  For  the  Arabs  learnt  G-reek  philosophy  and 
science  with  eagerness;  but  they  despised  and  hated  the 
Christian  theology  that  had  grafted  itself  upon  Plato  and 
Aristotle.  The  intellectual  supremacy  passed  for  ages  away 
from  the  doctors  of  the  Church  to  their  chief  enemies ; 
and  while  the  armies  of  Islam  overthrew  Christian  govern- 
ments and  ravaged  Christian  lands,  and  while  the  corsairs  of 
the  Caliphate  destroyed  the  commerce  of  Christian  nations, 
and  prevented  any  development  of  European  enterprise  on 
the  Mediterranean,  new  schools  arose  within  the  Moham- 
medan world,  which  made  themselves,  till  the  time  of  the 
Crusades,  the  almost  undisputed  successors  of  ancient  know- 
ledge and  ancient  thought.  A crushing  defeat  was  inflicted 
for  a time,  not  merely  on  Roman  and  Christian  and 
European  empire,  but  upon  the  very  civilisation  or  higher 
life  of  that  empire,  which  was  thus  thrown  back  into  its 
Dark  Ages. 

At  the  epoch  we  have  now  reached,1  the  Saracens  had 
not  yet  broken  into  Europe  by  way  of  Spain,  but  they  had 
already  overrun  Northern  Africa  to  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic,  they  had  shut  up  the  Byzantine  power  to  the 
regions  west  of  Taurus,  they  had  made  their  first  but  futile 
dash  upon  the  city  of  Constantine,  and  they  were  yearly 
threatening  to  swoop  down  again  upon  the  Bosphorus,  or  to 
cross  the  Western  Mediterranean  into  the  Latin  Christendom 
of  Europe. 


1 About  A.D.  680-690. 


128 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Oh. 


The  world  in  which  Arculf  travelled  was  no  longer,  as  it 
had  been  to  earlier  pilgrims,  the  dominion  of  one  religion, 
that  of  the  gospel,  and  of  one  ruler,  the  Roman  emperor. 
The  greatest  State  which  had  taken  the  place  of  the  Ca3sars* 
kingdom  was  the  Caliphate : and  the  growth  of  this  new 
semi-temporal,  semi-spiritual  monarchy  had  been  rapid 
almost  beyond  example.  By  a.d.  644,  within  twelve  years 
of  their  first  attack  upon  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Persia,  the 
Mussulmans  had  mastered  all  the  lands  between  Khiva  and 
Carthage,  and  before  Arculf  went  on  his  journey  they  had 
established  themselves  along  the  whole  south  and  east  of 
the  Mediterranean  world,  in  Tangier,  in  Alexandria,  and  in 
Antioch. 

Meantime,  Christendom,  whose  broken  fragments,  at  least 
within  the  limits  of  the  Old  Empire,  had  seemed  likely  (for 
a moment)  to  be  reunited  by  Justinian,  was  more  hopelessly 
divided  than  ever,  in  political  power.  The  Byzantines  had 
now  lost,  by  Arculf’s  day,  all  their  dominion  in  Africa ; 
while  in  Asia  they  could  claim  nothing  east  of  the  Taurus, 
and  in  Europe  next  to  nothing  west  of  the  Adriatic.  The 
Isaurians  had  not  yet  arisen  to  give  new  vigour  to  the  fail- 
ing State,  and  the  extinction  of  the  “Lower  Empire,”  in  the 
capture  of  Constantinople  itself,  looked  highly  probable. 
In  675  the  first  Moslem  host  came  in  sight  of  St.  Sophia : 
and  though  it  fell  back  baffled,  this  was  only  to  prepare  for 
another  and  a more  determined  siege. 

In  Western  Europe  all  the  more  stable  political  forces 
centred  round  two  personages,  the  Bishop  of  Rome  and  the 
King  of  the  Franks.  The  Byzantine  exarchs  or  viceroys 
at  Ravenna  had  been  practically  insignificant  from  the  time 
of  the  Lombard  inroads  in  North  Italy,  in  the  latter  years 
of  the  sixth  century ; Pope  Gregory  the  Great  represented 
the  authority  which  still  clung  to  the  name  of  Rome  far 


IV.] 


THE  WESTERN  WORLD  IN  ARCULF’S  DAY.  129 


better  than  any  other  potentate  in  Italy ; but  from  the  time 
of  Clovis  (who  died  in  511)  there  was  apparent  the  growth 
of  a new  secular  power  in  the  Transalpine  lands.  The 
Franks  in  Gaul  and  Western  Germany  were  taking  upon 
themselves  more  and  more  an  imperial  authority.  They 
were  the  greatest  tribe  or  race,  indeed  the  only  tribe  or 
race  which  showed  enough  stability  and  organising  power 
to  be  called  great,  between  the  North  Sea  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Their  conversion  to  orthodoxy  made  them  fitter 
than  ever  to  represent  Borne : but  they  were  still  a long 
way  from  their  position  under  Charles  the  Great,  and  his 
house  had  not  yet  come  to  the  Frankish  throne;  as  yet 
they  were  only  mayors  of  the  palace.1 

The  Gothic  Kingdom  in  Spain  was  to  all  appearance 
more  peaceful,  settled,  and  secure  than  any  other  State  of 
Latin  Christendom ; far  less  anarchic  than  Italy,  more 
united  than  Britain,  not  so  near  as  Frank-land  to  a domestic 
revolution — but  its  hour  was  nearly  come.  Suddenly  upon 
its  pretentious  weakness  fell  that  Saracen  onslaught  which 
would  hardly  have  been  less  fatal  in  the  Italy  of  the  seventh 
or  eighth  century.  A rotten  Government,  a disloyal  nobility, 
a factious  church — and  an  enemy  whose  fire  and  subtlety  no 
Christians  had  yet  resisted  with  success, — these  were  the 
conditions  of  the  problem  whose  solution  was  to  be  so 
rapid  and  so  mysterious. 

The  English  kingdoms  were  taking  shape  and  had 
settled  into  a fairly  definite  triple  division,  of  North,  South, 
and  Centre ; they  had  passed  through  the  struggle  of  their 
conversion,  and  had  all  accepted  Christianity 2 and  the 
culture  that  it  brought  with  it.  In  days  that  were  soon  to 
come,  English  missionaries  would  lead  a movement  against 
the  heathendom  of  Northern  and  Central  Germany,  beyond 

1 Circ.  a.p.  680.  2 By  670-680. 

K 


130 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


the  Elbe  and  the  Rhine  ; hut  this  belongs  to  the  lifetime 
of  our  next  pilgrim,  Willibald.  As  yet,  in  spite  of  successes 
in  Britain,  and  the  still  unspent  energy  of  the  Irish  Church, 
Christendom  was  on  the  whole  receding  from  without,  and 
showing  but  faint  hope  of  brighter  things  within,  when 
Arculf  struggled  from  France  to  Syria,  and  thence,  by  many 
wanderings,  to  Scotland.  We  shall  not,  then,  be  surprised 
if  our  material  decreases  very  greatly  in  amount.  The 
stream  of  pilgrims  has  dwindled  to  a rivulet,  and  the 
memorials  of  pilgrim-journeys  naturally  fall  away  with  the 
decline  of  practical  enterprise. 

We  may,  indeed,  expect  that  Christian  travel,  following 
the  general  course  of  Christian  politics  and  Christian  know- 
ledge, will  not  only  lose  what  little  enterprise  it  may  have 
had,  but  will  also  become  more  and  more  superstitious  and 
confined  in  outlook.  Yet  the  reality  is  hardly  so  bad  as  the 
appearance  of  things  would  argue.  With  all  their  barbarism, 
the  Northern  nations  who  took  up  Christianity,  who  founded 
their  States  upon  the  ruins  of  Rome’s  Empire,  who  drove 
back  the  Moslems,  and  who  at  last  discovered,  conquered, 
and  colonised  the  best  parts  of  the  world,  have  never  been 
surpassed  for  manliness,  ftfr  daring,  and  for  endurance.  With 
all  their  faults,  accordingly,  we  find  in  the  pilgrims  of  this 
time,  who  are  almost  entirely  Northerners,  certain  qualities 
that  may  be  respected.  The  Frankish,  and  English,  and 
Irish  travellers  of  the  new  age — Arculf,  and  Willibald,  and 
Bernard,  and  Fidelis — are  not  altogether  without  the  spirit 
of  an  imperial  race ; and  the  same  Northern  blood,  poured 
into  Italy  and  the  South,  is,  no  doubt,  in  part  the  cause 
of  the  fresh  commercial  and  maritime  activity  awakened  in 
such  ports  as  Amalphi  and  Venice,  where,  in  spite  of  all 
dangers  from  Mussulman  attacks,  the  first  essays  were  soon 1 

1 In  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries. 


IV.] 


AECULF,  ADAMNAN,  AND  BEDE. 


131 


to  be  made  towards  a new  European  trade.  In  the  same 
spirit  Rome  bad  struggled  to  save  the  Church,  and  had 
made  a good  beginning  in  her  attack  upon  the  North  by 
the  victories  in  England,  where  her  missionaries  gained  a 
fresh  starting-point  and  a powerful  flank  position  for  the 
next  campaign  in  Germany. 

The  first  of  our  new  group  of  pilgrims  has  an  especial 
relation  to  England,  and  to  the  dual  conversion  of  our 
island  by  Continental  and  by  Irish  preachers.  It  was  about 
a.d.  680  that  Arculf,  whom  we  only  know  as  a Gallican 
bishop  and  a visitor  to  the  Holy  Land,  was  driven  out  of 
his  course  by  storms  on  his  return,  and  carried  to  the 
monastery  of  Iona,  which  had  long  been  the  capital  of  the 
Irish  Church  and  its  missions,  but  was  now  passing  under 
the  obedience  of  Rome.  Here  he  was  entertained  by  the 
abbot  Adamnan,1  the  biographer  and  successor  of  St.  Columba; 
to  his  host  he  related  the  story  of  his  journey ; and  by  him 
it  was  written  down,  and,  after  some  years,  presented  to 
King  Aldfrith  the  Wise,  last  of  the  great  Northumbrian 
rulers,  in  his  court  at  York  (a.d.  701).  The  narrative  aroused 
interest.  It  was  read  by  the  first  scholar  in  Christendom, 
who  happened  to  be  a Northumbrian  Englishman  living  at 
Jarrow;  and  in  the  result  two  summaries  of  Arculf s,  or 
rather  of  Adamnan’s,  record  were  made  by  the  Church 
historian  of  the  English  for  his  countrymen.  Of  these,  the 
shorter  was  inserted  in  the  “ Historia  Ecclesiastica ; ” the 
longer  formed  a separate  tract ; and  the  name  of  Bede  as 


1 “Little  Adam,”  who  became 
abbot  in  679.  See  Adamnan’s  Pro- 
logue, in  the  full  text  of  Arculf, 
and  Bede’s  Epilogue  (ch.  21)  in  his 
abridgment  (“  De  Locis  Sanctis  ”)  ; 
cf.  also  T.  Wright’s  Biog.  Brit.  Lit. 
Anglo- Sax.  Period,  p.  202.  Arculf 


must  have  been  in  Palestine  soon  after 
the  death  of  Moawiyah  (661-679), 
the  tolerant  and  enlightened  Caliph 
whom  he  mentions,  in  Book  i.  ch. 
11,  under  the  name  of  Mavias,  and 
whose  capital  at  Damascus  he  cer- 
tainly visited. 


132 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


the  compiler  secured  a great  popularity  and  a large  number 
of  copies  for  this  abridgment  of  the  new  work  on  the  Gospel 
sites.  During  the  Middle  Ages  more  than  one  hundred 
transcripts  of  it  were  made,  as  against  some  twelve  or 
thirteen  only  of  Adamnan’s  original  account ; but  it  adds 
hardly  anything  to  the  latter,  and  its  work  was  simply  to 
popularise  Arculf’s  relation.  For  an  obscure  name,  then  as 
now,  needed  a famous  man  to  recommend  it  to  a public 
which  decided  by  the  title  of  a book  to  read  or  not  to  read. 

The  full  narrative,  as  told  by  the  abbot  of  so  great  a 
monastery  as  Iona,  is  naturally  far  more  literary  than  most 
of  its  class.  It  is  never  a mere  itinerary  ; the  information 
contained  is  worked  up  into  a certain  form,  and  not  thrown 
out  just  as  the  memory  served,  as  was  clearly  the  case  with 
the  later  guide-book  of  Willibald,  or  the  earlier  tract  of 
Theodosius.  Again,  it  is  unique,  among  these  early  pilgrim- 
records,  in  its  illustrations,  and  in  its  formal  completeness 
(its  division  into  three  books,  its  invocation  of  the  Trinity,1 
and  so  forth) ; while  it  shares  with  Willibald’s  narrative  the 
distinction  of  being  dictated  by  the  traveller  himself  to  a 
scribe.  But  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  the  pilgrimage  forms 
merely  part  of  a treatise  attempted  in  commemoration  of  a 
master  by  two  very  humble  disciples ; in  Arculf’ s case,  his 
story  was  set  forth  with  the  best  skill  and  culture  of  the 
time,  and  has  one  only  object — a complete  account  of  the 
holy  places  of  the  Levant. 

Arculf  s first  chapter  is  a general  one,  about  the  site  of 
Jerusalem — its  walls,  with  their  eighty -four  towers  and  six 
gates ; its  “ great  houses  of  stone  ; ” and  its  “ famous  spot, 
where  once  the  temple  stood  in  all  its  splendour,”  now 
replaced  by  the  “ square-built  prayer-house  ” of  the  Saracens, 

1 “ In  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  I I am  about  to  write  a book  about  the 
of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  | holy  places.” 


ECCLElSIA 


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& 

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t-H 

05 


S.  MARIE  ECCLESIA 


IV.] 


AECULF  IN  JERUSALEM. 


133 


“ able  to  bold  three  thousand  men  at  once.”  More  than  all 
these,  he  speaks  of  the  great  annual  fair  held  in  the  city  on 
the  15th  of  September,  with  its  “ almost  countless  multitude  ” 
of  men,  and  its  hosts  of  camels,  asses,  and  horses ; and 
he  looks  on  the  rains  that  regularly  followed  it  and  washed 
the  streets  of  their  refuse  as  nothing  short  of  a miracle, 
worked  by  God  “ for  the  glory  of  His  only  begotten  Son.”  1 

From  the  well-constructed  private  houses  of  Jerusa- 
lem, Arculf  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  sacred  buildings,  and 
especially  of  that  centre  of  pilgrim-devotion,  “ the  round 
church  built  over  the  Sepulchre  of  the  Lord ; ” and  in 
connection  with  this,  he  gives  us  one  of  the  earliest  of 
Christian  plans — a sketch  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in  all  its 
parts,  as  it  was  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  originally  made  by 
himself,  at  the  spot,  upon  a wax  tablet  that  he  carried. 

Next,  in  the  long  account  that  follows  of  the  churches  of 
the  Resurrection,  of  Calvary,  and  of  the  Invention  or  Redis- 
covery of  the  Cross,  we  have,  for  the  first  time,  the  story  of 
the  column  which  marked  the  centre  of  the  world,  “ on  the 
north  side  of  the  holy  places,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  city,” 
which  at  the  time  of  the  summer  solstice  cast  no  shadow 
at  midday,2  thereby  clearly  proving  Jerusalem  to  be  the 
“ navel  of  the  earth.”  “Whence  also  the  psalmist  sings, 

4 But  God  is  our  King  of  old,  working  salvation  in  the  midst 
of  the  earth'  ” 3 


1 Arculf,  i.  2,  3.  The  Caliphs,  at 
the  end  of  the  seventh  century, 
greatly  fostered  a Jerusalem  pilgrim- 
age among  their  Moslem  subjects, 
and  this  was  one  reason  of  the  con- 
course noticed  by  Arculf.  See 
Delpit,  “ Essai  sur  les  Anciens 
Pelerinages,”  pp.  271,272;  and  De 
Guignes’  “ Memoire  sur  les  Rela- 
tions de  la  Gaule  avec  POrient.” 

2 But  a slightly  increasing  shadow 

from  that  time  on,  beginning  three 
days  after  the  solstice  (June  24-27). 


Arculf,  i.  13.  Cf.  Theodosius,  pref.  : 
‘‘In  medio  autem  Judee civitas  Iheru- 
solima  est,  quasi  umbilicus  regionis 
totius  ” (not  in  Gildemeister’s  re- 
cension). 

3  Ps.  lxxiv.12.  Arc.  i.  13, 14.  Arculf 
copies  from  old  stories  of  the  column 
of  scourging  the  thought  of  Christ’s 
knees  “ marked  upon  hard  stone,  as 
on  wax,”  and  applies  the  story  to  a 
new  relic — the  stone  on  which  He 
knelt  and  prayed  in  Gethsemane. 


134  THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS.  [Ch. 

A little  later,  in  describing  the  site  of  the  death  of 
Judas,  Arculf,  or  Adamnan  for  him,  makes  his  solitary 
quotation  from  “uninspired  writings” — and  this  is  from 
the  valuable  author  Juvencus,  a “versifying  priest”  of 
St.  Jerome’s  time,  who  furnishes  a line  appropriate  to  the 
“ suicide  from  a fig-tree.”  1 

In  the  account  of  Mount  Sion,  which  immediately 
follows,  we  have  another  sketch-map  given  us — a plan  of 
that  “ Mother  and  Mistress  of  all  Churches  ” under  whose 
roof  were  now  grouped  four  of  the  holy  sites — the  places 
of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord ; of  the  Descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ; of  the  Virgin’s  death ; and  of  the  Column  of 
Scourging  ; 2 with  the  rock  of  the  stoning  of  Stephen  just 
outside.  Arculf  now  turns  from  the  city  itself  to  describe 
its  surroundings.  He  begins  this  second  part  of  his 
“ Delation  ” with  a notice  of  “ the  rough  and  stony  places 
from  Jerusalem  to  Ramah  of  Samuel,”  of  the  vines  and 
olives  of  Mount  Olivet,  and  of  the  rich  and  fruitful  country 
stretching  towards  Caesarea  and  the  coast — a remark  as 
unexpected  as  it  is  rare  in  these  pilgrim-memoirs,  which 
as  a rule  pass  by  every  natural  feature  of  the  country 
without  remark,  or  only  attend  to  those  curiosities  that 
seem  to  offer  an  easy  opening  for  miracle.  In  speaking 
of  the  round  church,  “ of  the  Ascension  ” on  Olivet,  whose 
lights  at  night  cast  quite  a brilliant  glow  over  Jerusalem, 
Arculf  gives  us  his  third  illustration  or  ground-plan,  a 
picture  which  he  tries  to  fill  up  by  his  careful  iteration  of 


1 “ Informem  rapuit  ficus  de  vertice 
mortem.”  C.  Vettius  Aquilinus 
Juvencus,  a Spanish  priest  of  the 

fourth  century,  wrote  an  “Historia 
Evangelica”  in  verse.  The  older 
etory  of  the  “iron  chain”  had  not 
necessarily  passed  into  discredit. 


“ Unhappy  Judas”  might  have  used 
both  this  and  the  fig-tree. 

2 Arc.  i.  19.  Arculf  only  alludes  to 
Mount  Moriah  in  c.  1.  His  object 
was  to  describe  the  Christian  shrines. 
For  the  references  which  follow,  cf. 
Arc.  i.  21-23 ; ii.  7-11,  12-15.  . 


IV.] 


ARCULF  IN  HEBRON  AND  JERICHO. 


135 


the  wonder  of  the  eight  glass  windows  used  in  that  church, 
through  which  the  lamp-light  streamed  oyer  the  whole 
mountain  and  all  the  neighbouring  country.  Moving  on 
to  Bethlehem,  and  describing  the  wonders  of  the  city  of 
Christ  and  St.  Jerome,  our  pilgrim  notes  the  old  Boyal 
Road  which  connected  Jerusalem  with  the  South,  and  which 
was  traversed  by  him,  at  least  as  far  as  “ Hebron,  which 
is  also  Mamre,”  and  the  tombs  of  the  patriarchs.  He  was 
particularly  interested  in  the  tomb  of  Adam,  which  was 
made,  not  from  stone  or  marble,  but  simply  from  the  soil — a 
sort  of  example  of  earth-to-earth  burial — in  special  allusion 
to  the  threat  of  his  Creator : “ Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust 
shalt  thou  return.” 

Then,  after  telling  us  about  the  oak  of  Mamre,  which 
“ St.  Jerome  somewhere  says  had  been  there  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world  to  the  time  of  Constantine,”  Arculf 
comes  back  to  Jerusalem,  noticing  on  his  way  the  mode  of 
transport  by  camels,  “for  in  all  Judsea  it  is  rare  to  find 
waggons  or  carriages,”  before  starting  again  from  Jerusalem 
on  a visit  to  the  gorge  of  the  Jordan  and  Dead  Sea. 

Jericho,  like  Hebron,  he  found  in  ruins,  only  the  house 
of  Rahab  standing,  and  the  land  on  the  other  side  of 
Jordan  was  now  all  “Arabia”1 — across  that  narrow  milk- 
white  stream  “ over  which  a strong  man  could  easily  hurl 
a stone,”  but  which  to  the  Christian  pilgrim  was  Rhone  and 
Rhine,  Tagus  and  Tiber,  Golden  Horn  and  Nile,  and  all — 
more  than  all  the  sacred  and  venerable  streams  of  history 
— in  one. 

The  “ Dead  Sea  ” of  salt  suggests  to  him  a curious 
disquisition  on  salts  of  the  earth  and  sea,  on  the  rock  salt 


1 The  space  between  Jericho  and 
the  Jordan  was  now  inhabited  by 
“ sorry  fellows  of  the  race  of  Canaan  ’’ 


— “ quorumdum  Channanee  stirpis 
homuncionran  . . . domus.” 


136 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Oh.. 


dug  out  of  “ a mount  of  Sicily,”  and  on  Christ’s  saying  to 
His  disciples,  "Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.”  And  as  to 
this  land  salt,  adds  Adamnan,  Arculf  had  a right  to  speak, 
for  he  lived  some  days  in  Sicily,  and  by  sight,  taste,  and 
touch  assured  himself  that  this  was  truly  the  saltest  of 
salt.1 

From  the  Dead  Sea  the  next  stage  was  to  the  sources 
of  the  Jordan  in  the  province  of  Phoenicia,  “ at  the  roots  of 
Lebanon,”  where  the  two  fountains  of  Jor  and  Dan 2 bubbled 
up  from  the  earth,  and  sent  their  waters  victoriously  through 
the  two  Lakes  Merom  and  Gennesaret,  only  to  be  absorbed 
in  the  third,  the  “ Asphaltic,”  or  Sea  of  Sodom.  Here  Arculf 
stops  to  correct  a topographical  mistake,  as  he  views  it — 
“ the  Jordan  rises  not  at  Paneas  (Caesarea  Philippi),  but  in 
the  country  of  Trachonitis,”  fifteen  miles  distant;  and  he 
spends  a chapter  in  a full  account  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,3 
which  he  describes  as  fringed  all  around  with  woodland — 
a striking  contrast  to  its  present-day  condition. 

In  Central  Palestine  he  visited  Nazareth,  Mount  Tabor, 
and  the  great  cruciform  church  over  the  well  of  Jacob  at 
Sichem,4  of  which  he  gives  us  a plan  in  the  fourth  and  last 
of  his  illustrations.  But,  as  he  laments,  he  could  not  stay 
he  had  attached  himself  to  a brother-devotee,  one  Peter,  and 


1  In  his  abridgment  “Concerning 
the  Holy  Places,”  Bede  adds,  in 
confirmation  of  what  the  Gallic 
pilgrim  tells  of  the  buoyancy  of  the 

Dead  Sea  waters,  the  well-known 

story,  as  given  by  Josephus,  of  the 

experiment  of  Vespasian.  At  his 
bidding  men  had  once  been  thrown 
into  the  Asphaltic  Lake,  who  had 
never  learnt  to  swim,  and  whose 
hands  were  tied;  but  nothing  could 
make  them  sink,  and  they  (see 
Josephus,  B.  J.  iv.  8. 4)  floated  obsti- 


nately on  the  surface  of  the  water. 

2 These  represent  probably  the 
sources  (f£  Baneas  (Caesarea  Philippi), 
and  Tell-el-Kady  (Dan).  Cf.  Ant. 
Mart.  c.  7.  Arculf,  whose  flash  of 
critical  spirit  in  this  place  recalls 
Silvia,  traces  the  real  sources  in  a 
lake  Phiala,  120  stadia  from  Baneas,. 
flowing  thence  underground  (ii.  17). 

3 ii.  18.  “ Chinnereth”  and  “ Ti- 

berias” he  also  names  it  (ii.  18). 

4 “Improperly  named  Sichar,”  ii* 


19. 


CD 

CO 


W 


O 


THE  CHURCH  OVER  JACOB’S  WELL  AS  IN  ABOUT  A.D.  680,  ACCORDING 
TO  ARCULF. 


IV.] 


AEOULF  AT  JOED  AN  AND  IN  GALILEE. 


137 


lie  was  now  forced  to  hasten  on  by  the  conduct  of  his  com- 
panion. This  “soldier  of  Christ,  a Burgundian  by  race,, 
well  acquainted  with  sites,”  but  apparently  infirm  of  temper,, 
seems  to  have  travelled  with  Arculf  for  some  time,  till,  at 
this  point, ihe  refused  to  go  any  further,  and  returned  “by 
a roundabout  way  from  Nazareth  to  the  solitary  place  where 
he  had  been  before.”  1 

The  two  pilgrims  had  been  together  at  Mount  Tabor, 
which  Adamnan  declares,2  from  Arculf  s account,  to  be  thirty 
stadia,  or  nearly  four  miles,  high — perhaps  in  reference  to- 
the  length  of  the  winding  path  to  the  summit  ; but  the 
Burgundian  anchorite  would  only  allow  his  friend  to  pass 
one  night  in  the  hospice  on  the  top.  Still  he  had  time  to 
see  the  great  monastery  of  the  place  and  the  three  handsome 
churches,  “ according  to  the  number  of  the  tabernacles  of 
which  Peter  spoke : ” and  in  this  short  visit  he  gained  the 
somewhat  wild  impression  of  Tabor’s  summit  as  forming 
a broad  expanse  three  miles  across.3 

Arculf  is  next  to  be  found  in  Damascus,  which  lies  “ in 
a plain  with  olive  groves,  enclosed  by  an  ample  circuit  of 
walls  and  intersected  by  four  great  rivers  ; ” and  from  this, 
his  furthest  point  eastwards,  he  seems  to  have  come  back  to 
Tyre,  the  “metropolis  of  Phoenicia,”  and  taken  ship  for 
Egypt,  where  he  does  not  tell  us  of  any  extensive  travels,, 
but  only  of  journey ings  in  the  lower  valley  of  the  Nile. 

The  voyage  from  Joppa  to  the  great  city  of  Alexandria,, 
“ once  the  metropolis  of  Egypt,”  was  a matter  of  forty  days,. 


1  Passing  over  the  “plain  of  the 

loaves  and  fishes,”  north  of  Tiberias, 
and  through  Capernaum.  He  says 
nothing  to  help  us  to  fix  the  site  of 
the  latter.  In  Nazareth  he  especially 

describes  the  well,  the  one  certain 
reliG  of  the  day  of  Christ  therein. 


2 Adamnan’ s phrases  sometimes 
suggest  that  he  drew  the  story  slowly 
and  painfully  out  of  his  visitor  by 
repeated  questioning. 

3 It  is  really  a quarter  of  a mile 
in  length  by  one-eighth  of  a mile 
in  width.  Cf.  Arc.  ii.  24,  25. 


13S  THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS.  [Ch. 

lie  tells  us  ; and  here,  as  in  Damascus  and  all  through  Syria 
and  Egypt,  the  “ King  of  the  Saracens  ” had  now  seized  the 
government.  Except  in  passing,  however,  Arculf  never 
alludes  to  the  great  revolution  that  had  so  lately  befallen 
the  pilgrim-lands  of  the  Levant,  in  this  contrasting  strongly 
with  Willibald  and  with  Bernard,  who  also  seem  to  have 
suffered  much  more  from  Moslem  espionage  and  extortion 
than  their  predecessor.  As  to  Alexandria,  it  lay  like  an 
-enclosure  between  Egypt  and  the  great  sea.  On  the  south 
it  was  bounded  by  the  mouths  of  the  Nile,  on  the  north  by 
Lake  Mareotis — an  odd  inversion  of  the  real  facts  of  the  case. 
Its  port  was  difficult  of  access,  and  something  like  the  human 
body  in  shape.  “ For  in  its  head  it  is  ample,  at  its  entrance 
Tery  narrow,  where  it  admits  the  tide  of  the  sea  and  the 
ships ; and  by  this  entrance  the  means  of  breathing,  as  one 
may  say,  are  supplied  to  the  harbour.  But  when  you  have 
once  passed  this  narrow  neck  and  mouth,  the  sea  stretches 
out  far  and  wide,”  like  the  human  body  at  the  shoulders.  On 
the  right-hand  side  of  the  harbour  Arculf  saw  the  Pharos,1 
the  great  lighthouse  of  the  Ptolemies,  still  standing,  “ and 
every  night  lit  up  with  torches  ” as  a landmark  for  sailors 
far  along  the  coast  and  out  at  sea,  as  well  as  a guide  for 
mariners  through  the  narrow,  winding,  and  rocky  entrance 
of  the  harbour.  The  port  itself  was  always  calm,  and  in  size 
nearly  four  miles  across.  So  calm  and  so  great  a haven  was 
needed  for  a city  used  by  the  whole  world  as  an  emporium  ; 
whither  countless  people  still  resorted,  in  spite  of  Moslem 
rule.  As  the  country,  though  very  fertile,  was  almost  rainless, 
the  want  was  supplied  by  the  “ spontaneous  showers  ” of 
Nile  irrigation.  The  river  was  not  only  a fertiliser,  it  was 
an  invaluable  water-way  for  commerce,  always  crowded  with 

1 Built  280  b.c.  aud  mentioned  as  existent  for  1600  years  (to  about  a.d 
1300). 


IV.] 


ARCULF  IN  EGYPT. 


139 


traffickers.  So  men  here  could  sow  without  ploughing  and 
journey  without  waggons,  on  the  great  stream  that  flowed 
through  and  divided  Egypt,  and  which  was  navigable,  as 
they  said,  to  the  * town  of  elephants  ” (Elephantine). 
Eeyond  this,  the  cataracts,  or  hills  of  water,  prevented  any 
further  progress — not  from  any  shallowness  of  the  stream, 
but  from  the  headlong  fall  of  the  whole  river,  and  a sort 
of  “ ruin,”  as  our  pilgrim  calls  it,  of  the  rushing  waters. 

The  city  of  Alexandria  Arculf  found  so  long  and  narrow 
that  he  was  one  entire  day  in  merely  passing  through  it. 
Entering  one  side  of  the  town  at  the  third  hour  of  a day  in 
October,  it  was  evening  before  he  reached  the  other. 

Along  the  banks  of  the  Nile  he  also  noticed  the  dykes 
that  the  Egyptians  put  up  to  regulate  the  yearly  overflow. 
If  these  embankments  burst,  terrible  destruction  some- 
times ensued;  so  that  many  of  the  people  living  in  the 
lowlands  built  their  houses  on  piles  standing  well  above 
the  high-water  mark  of  the  floods. 

It  was  the  Canopic  mouth  of  Nile  which,  to  Arculf  s mind, 
made  the  geographical  division  between  Asia  and  Africa, 
and  up  and  down  the  lower  reaches  of  the  great  river  he 
passed  several  times,  noticing,  as  he  did  so,  the  ferocious 
daring  of  the  crocodiles,  “ quadrupeds  not  so  large  as 
ravenous.” 

Thus  ends  our  pilgrim’s  account  of  Egypt.1  The  last 
section  of  his  relation  opens  in  Constantinople,  which  he 
reached  from  Alexandria  by  way  of  Crete;  and  which  he 
•declares,  from  a personal  knowledge  of  several  months,  to  be 


1 Here,  from  his  allusions  to  the 
Nile,  and  notably  to  Elephantine, 
we  may  suppose  that  he  went  up 
•country  to  visit  the  monks  and  soli- 
taries of  the  desert;  but  he  says 
mothing  about  them,  though  they 


had  been  standing  attractions  to 
earlier  pilgrims;  and  his  silence  is 
imitated  by  Bernard,  Willibald,  and 
the  other  devotees  of  this  Frankish 
age  of  travel. 


140 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[C  u. 


without  doubt  the  metropolis  of  the  Roman  Empire,1  and 
by  far  the  greatest  city  therein.  Surrounded  by  the  sea  on 
all  sides  except  the  north  (“  for  the  Great  Sea  here  breaks 
in  for  a space  of  forty  miles  ”),  the  place  was  truly  imperial, 
with  walls  twelve  miles  in  circuit,  and  full  of  splendid  stone 
houses  built  after  the  fashion  of  Rome. 

So  Arculf  speaks  : to  what  he  says  over  and  above  this 
general  description  2 — “ of  the  first  foundation  of  the  city  by 
Constantine,”  “ of  that  church  in  which  the  Lord’s  cross  is 
kept,”  and  of  the  story  of  St.  George  the  Confessor  (though 
the  first  account  of  England’s  patron  saint  ever  circulated  in 
Britain) — we  need  not  attend,  except  so  far  as  to  notice 
that  the  “ round  church  which  contains  the  life-giving 
wood  of  the  Cross  ” is  Saint  Sophia,  the  crowning  glory  of 
Justinian’s  buildings;  and  that  Arculf’s  whole  account  of 
Constantinople  is  a witness  to  the  seventh-century  pre- 
ponderance of  that  city  in  size  and  splendour  over  all  the 
other  centres  of  Christian  civilisation. 

From  the  New  Rome  of  the  East,  Arculf  sailed  to  the 
Old  Rome3  of  the  West,  and  on  his  voyage  his  curiosity 
was  especially  roused  by  the  isle  of  Volcano  in  the  Liparis, 
“ twelve  miles  from  Sicily,”  which  vomited  smoke  by  day 
and  fire  by  night,  with  a noise  like  thunder — a noise,  too, 
that  was  always  louder  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays,  and 
shook  the  whole  of  the  opposite  coast  of  Sicily  ; so,  at 
least,  our  pilgrim  imagined  when  he  was  staying  there. 

II.  Willibald,4  circ.  a.d.  721-728. 

Arculf,  although  a Frank,  comes  before  us  in  an  English 
or  Anglo-Irish  account,  and  the  chief  immediate  result  of 

1 Hi.  1,  5 (end). 

2 iii.  2,  3,  5. 

3 iii.  6. 


4 Cf.  Tobler-Moliner’s  pref.  xxxix.- 
xliii.,  which  points  out  that  the  narra- 
tives of  Willibald,  Antoninus  Martyr,. 


IV.] 


WILLIBALD  THE  WEST-SAXON. 


141 


iiis  journey  is  to  rouse  still  further  the  pilgrim-interest 
among  the  newly  converted  English  race.  The  journeys  of 
our  devotees  had  at  first  been  to  the  shrines  of  Ireland,1  in 
the  days  when  Irish  missions  controlled  the  Christianity  of 
Northern  and  Central  England ; but  now  that  the  Roman 
cause  had  triumphed,  and  the  Continental  connection  had 
been  perfected  by  Wilfrid  and  by  Theodore,  men  began  to 
go  in  numbers  from  Britain  to  Rome,  and  in  a few  examples 
as  far  as  Syria. 

The  next  of  our  Latin  pilgrim  records  is  that  of  a high- 
born Englishman,  Willibald,  son  of  a certain  Richard  who 
bore  the  title  of  king,  and  who  is  supposed  to  have  been 
himself  son  of  that  Hlothere,  king  of  Kent,  who  died  in  685. 
His  mother  was  Winna,  sister  of  Winfrith,  or  Boniface  of 
'Crediton,  afterwards  the  apostle  of  Germany  and  arch- 
bishop of  Mainz.  A still  more  powerful  connection  of  hers 
was  Ini,  king  of  Wessex,  the  restorer  of  the  West  Saxon 
kingdom  and  conqueror  of  Somerset.  Willibald’s  brother  2 
Wunebald,  and  his  sister  Walburga,  or  Walpurgis,  both 
became  prominent  like  himself  in  the  German  missions  of 
the  Church,  and  the  oil  of  St.  Walburga  was  long  the  boast 
of  the  faithful  at  Eichstadt,  and  has  been  defended  in  our 
own  day,  as  a credible  miracle,  by  Cardinal  Newman.  Both, 


and  Arculf  are  the  chief  pilgrim- 
records  under  the  Merwings ; inclines 
to  the  belief  that  the  Spaniard  who 
aided  Willibald  in  Syria  was  an  apos- 
tate; and  dates  the  main  stages  of 
his  journey  as  follows  : Left  Eome, 
Easter,  722 ; reached  Jerusalem,  Nov. 
724 ; in  Constantinople,  about  March, 
726  ; 728-9  returned  to  Italy. 

Molinier,  p.  xli.,  suggests  that  the 
nun  of  Heydenheim  wrote  down  most 
of  the  narrative  from  Willibald’s  lips, 
but  that  another  hand  added  (after 


his  death)  the  account  of  his  life  as 
a bishop.  At  this  very  point  ends 
the  Codex  Augiensis,  with  the  Pope’s 
commission  to  Willibald  to  join  Boni- 
face in  Germany.  T.  Wright  (Biog. 
Brit.  Lit.  Anglo-Saxon  Period,  pp. 
341,  342)  dates  Willibald’s  departure 
from  Borne  721,  and  from  Tyre  on 
his  return  to  Constantinople  724.  See 
also  Heinrich  Hahn,  “ Die  Beise  des 
Heiligen  Willibalds,”  esp.  pp.  1-16. 

1 Of.  Bede,  H.  E.  iii.  27 ; iv.  4,  etc. 

2 Afterwards  abbot  of  Heydenheim. 


142 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch* 


after  Willibald’s  return  from  the  East,  followed  their 
kinsman  into  central  Europe.  English  as  they  were,  they 
thus  became  Frankish  subjects,  leaders  of  those  religious 
enterprises  which  extended  the  obedience  of  the  Roman 
Church  and  the  political  limits  of  the  Frankish  kingdom 
in  exact  correspondence. 

Willibald  especially  represents,  as  it  were,  the  reverse 
action  of  the  movement  which  Arculf  helped  to  spread — 
that  strikingly  enthusiastic  Christianity  of  the  English, 
tribes  whose  earlier  paganism1  was  by  comparison  so  half- 
hearted, so  almost  “ agnostic  ” in  character. 

As  the  Gallican  bishop  had  aided  the  progress  of  spiritual 
interests  in  our  island  by  his  visit,  and  his  story  of  pilgrimage, 
so  the  English  missionary  and  pilgrim  of  the  next  generation 
helped  to  give  back  to  the  Continent  that  religious  energy 
which  had  found  as  good  a material  in  the  English  as  in 
the  Irish  race,  and  which  was  now  returning  to  its  starting- 
point,  in  Continental  Christendom,  to  play  its  part  in  that 
contest  for  whose  sake  Rome  had  struggled  to  win  the 
allegiance  of  the  heathen  island  of  the  North. 

The  childlike  simplicity  of  Willibald’s  story,  a simplicity 
which  may  be  both  compared  and  contrasted  with  that  of 
Antoninus  Martyr,2  must  not  make  us  forget  the  importance  - 
and  rank  of  the  traveller.  His  story  is  recorded  first  by  a 
nun,3  “ a poor  little  creature,”  as  she  truly  calls  herself,  and 


1 Like  the  paganism,  e.g.,  of  Arabs, 
Berbers  and  Tartars  before  their 
acceptance  of  Islam. 

2 It  is  at  first  sight  remarkable  that 

Christian  travel  and  geography  is 
even  more  wildly  credulous,  supersti- 
tious, and  unnatural  under  Justinian 
than  in  the  time  of  Arculf  and  Willi- 
bald, and  among  races  so  much  less 
civilised  than  Byzantines  and  Italians. 
But  the  earlier  Christian  philosophy 
was  in  much  the  same  attitude 


towards  Scripture  (and  towards  sci-r 
ence)  as  the  later ; and  in  both  there 
was  an  amazing  indifference  towards 
the  tests  of  observation  and  material, 
proof.  The  difference  was  not  so 
much  through  any  alteration  of  Chris- 
tian thought,  as  through  the  almost 
total  extinction  of  the  old  learning,, 
and  the  discredit  thrown  on  naturoc 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  world. 

3  In  the  “ Hodceporicon.” 


IV.] 


THE  WESTERN  WORLD,  CIRC.  A.D.  720. 


143* 


secondly  by  a deacon,1  who  seems  to  have  abstracted  the 
nun’s  guide-book,  adding  a few  learned  and  rhetorical 
touches  of  his  own.  Had  the  noble  pilgrim  written  his  own 
account,  it  would  probably  have  been  much  more  ornate  ; it 
might  have  been  far  less  pleasing.  We  have  a specimen  of 
the  inflated  bombast  which  an  old  English  noble  mistook 
for  fine  writing  in  the  Chronicle  of  .ZEthelweard.  But  our 
present  guide-book  describes  itself,  not  without  pathos,  as 
the  work  of  “ a little  ignorant  child  plucking  a few  flowers 
here  and  there  from  numerous  branches  rich  in  foliage  and 
in  fruit  ...  in  order  that  he  that  glorieth,  may  glory  in  the 
Lord.”  2 

Willibald,  as  a young  man,  already  tonsured  and  destined 
for  the  ministry  of  the  Church,  thought  of  pilgrimage, 
as  so  many  others  of  his  nation  had  done  or  were  doing,  in 
the  way  of  a duty — a kind  of  seal  of  his  Christian  con- 
fession. His  relative,  King  Ini,  went  to  Borne  as  a pilgrim- 
penitent  in  728.3  King  Cead walla,  of  Wessex,  had  already 
travelled  there  to  die  in  688.  About  721,  some  three  years 
after  Boniface  started  on  his  mission  journeys  in  Continental 
Europe,  his  nephew  Willibald  first  “ sought  another  land 
by  pilgrimage,  and  tried  to  explore  the  unknown  regions 
of  foreign  places.” 

His  first  object  was  merely  Borne.4  The  idea  of  the 
further  passage  to  the  Holy  Land  seems  to  have  suggested 
itself  to  him  in  Italy.  But  even  the  road  to  Borne  was 
dangerous.  Matters  were  not  better,  but  worse  than  they 
had  been  a generation  before,  in  the  time  of  Arculf.  Islam 
was  stronger ; Christendom  was  weaker.  The  Saracen 


1 In  the  “Itinerarium.” 

2 Pref.  or  prologue. 

3 And  founded  there  the  “ Saxon 

House.” 


4  Thus  (Hod.  c.  vii.)  Willibald 
only  urges  his  father  Richard  to  visit 
the  limina  Petri.  See  Heinr.  Hahn, . 
“ Die  Reise  des  Heiligen  Willibald.” 


*144  THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS.  [Oh. 

attack  liad  simultaneously  reached  the  Bosphorus  on  one 
side,  and  the  Garonne  on  another,  in  the  early  years  of  the 
eighth  century.  Saracen  brigands  scoured  Provence,  in- 
fested the  passes  of  the  Alps,  threatened  both  New  and  Old 
Rome  at  once.  The  whole  Mediterranean  was  overrun  by 
Moslem  pirates,  and  the  main  body  of  the  Moslem  host 
appeared  to  be  marching  on  to  the  conquest  of  the 
world. 

In  675  and  717  the  armies  of  Islam  were  thrown  back 
from  the  walls  of  Constantinople;  but  in  711  they  had 
overthrown  the  Gothic  monarchy  in  Spain ; in  721  they 
were  fighting  round  Toulouse;  in  732,  exactly  a hundred 
years  from  Mohammed’s  death,  came  the  trial  day  for  Latin 
Christendom  and  Western  Europe  on  the  battle-field  of 
Tours.  Desperate  indeed  appeared  the  state  of  the  Christian 
world,  with  unconquered  heathenism  sweeping  round  it  on 
the  north  along  Rhine  and  Danube,  and  Islam  cutting  it 
short  on  the  south,  east,  and  west,  from  Armenia  to  Spain, 
— when  the  Isaurian  emperors  restored  somewhat  of  its  old 
power  and  glory  to  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  East,  and 
the  Franks  stopped  the  Saracen  advance  in  Gaul.  From  a 
superficial  point  of  view,  and  taking  less  account  of  the 
social  forces  underneath  than  of  the  show  of  political  and 
military  power,  the  days  of  an  independent  and  sovereign 
Christendom  might  have  seemed  numbered,  when  Willibald 
started  on  his  journey  (720-21). 

We  have  already  given  a brief  outline  of  the  position  of 
affairs,  and  the  effects  of  the  rise  of  Islam  on  Europe,  down 
to  a date  some  thirty  years  anterior,1  in  our  last  section. 
There  is  only  one  important  change  to  notice,  and  that,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  the  passing  of  the  Saracens  into  Europe 
and  their  conquest  of  nine-tenths  of  Spain  and  of  nearly  all 
1 680  or  690  to  720. 


IV.] 


THE  WESTERN  WORLD,  CIRC.  A.D.  720. 


145 


the  Aquitanian  lands.1  But,  meantime,  their  second  attack 
on  Constantinople  has  jnst  been  foiled ; a manly  race  and 
a true  leader  have  come  forward  among  the  despised  Byzan- 
tines ; a breathing-space  has  been  given  by  the  victory  of 
Leo  and  his  Isaurians  in  717  ; and  the  Frankish  race  has 
begun  to  recognise  a line  of  real  sovereigns  in  the  family  of 
Charles  Martel.  To  Christendom,  standing  at  bay  against 
a ring  of  foes,  every  year  was  of  value.  The  fanatic  zeal 
of  the  Arabs  was  a force  that  was  bound  in  time  to  grow 
feebler ; while  the  new  European  nations,  which  now  seemed 
so  divided  and  so  undisciplined,  only  needed  a respite. 
Then  they  would  reinforce  their  strength  by  fresh  blood 
from  the  North;  they  would  make  head,  little  by  little^ 
against  feudal,  or  local,  misgovernment ; they  would  forget 
their  differences  in  a common  struggle  for  the  Cross,  and 
for  their  own  common  interests ; they  would  at  last  show 
themselves  to  be  stronger  than  all  their  enemies.  Whether 
such  respite  was  to  be  had — all  turned  on  that;  and  the 
future  was  still  undecided  when  Willibald  followed  Arculf, 
and  even  when,  a century  later,  Bernard  followed  Willibald. 

The  journey  of  our  earliest  English  pilgrims,  as  origi- 
nally planned,  ended,  we  have  said,  at  Borne.  Willibald 
started  with  his  father  Bichard  and  his  brother  Wunebald 
simply  for  the  “threshold  of  Peter,  prince  of  the  apostles.” 
The  idea  that  such  a desertion  of  home  cares  and  duties  would 
be  “ cruel  and  dishonourable  ” was  waived 2 as  unworthy 


1 To  this  might  be  added  the  col- 
lapse of  the  Northumbrian  power  in 
England  since  Arculf  s day. 

2 It  was  peculiar  to  the  English, 
says  Goscelin,  in  the  Bollandist  Col- 
lection, “ to  find  many  saints  in  one 
family  together  ” (Life  of  St.  Richard, 
Feb.  vii.).  Of  the  two  brothers,  Willi- 
bald was  evidently  the  leading  spirit. 


The  Itinerarium,  c.  iii.,  makes  him 
tell  his  father  that  “cruelty  for  Christ 
was  better  than  all  affection.”  “ At 
this  time,”  says  Bede  (H.  E.  v.  7) 
of  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, “multitudes  of  the  English, 
high  and  low,  clergy  and  laity,  men 
and  women,  went  on  pilgrimage”  to> 
Rome  and  the  Holy  Land,  etc. 

L 


146 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


of  a “ valiant  soldier  of  Christ ; ” and  at  a “ suitable  time 
in  the  summer,”  probably  of  720-21,  this  family  party 
took  ship  upon  the  river  Hamble,  “the  appointed  place, 
known  by  the  ancient  name  of  Hamble-Mouth,” 1 which  falls 
into  the  sea  about  six  miles  below  Southampton  (Willi- 
bald’s “ Hamwih  ”).  They  took  with  them  the  means  of 
livelihood  and  a band  of  friends,  hoisted  sail  with  favouring 
wind  and  tide,2  and  crossed  in  safety  the  “ vasty  deep  ” of 
the  English  Channel.  Ascending  the  Seine  to  Rouen,  they 
disembarked  close  to  the  city,  where  there  was  a market, 
and  “going  on  thence  from  place  to  place,”  came  at  last 
into  Piedmont,  and  arrived  at  Lucca,  after  a passage  of  the 
dangerous  and  brigand-infested  passes  of  the  Alps,3  which 
was  indeed  fortunate  for  an  eighth- century  traveller. 

At  Lucca,  ^Willibald’s  father  died,  and  was  buried  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Frigidian,4  where,  under  the  name  of  St. 
Richard,  he  is  to  be  found  working  miracles  in  the  twelfth 
century,  and  where  his  tomb  was  pointed  out  to  John 
Evelyn  in  1645  (Diary,  May  21st).5  His  sons,  however,  still 


1 “ Hamelea  Mutha,”  caps.  7,  8. 

2 As  the  Tractarian  biographer 
remarks,  in  Lives  of  English  Saints 
(p.  9 of  St.  Richard  the  Saxon), 
“ the  style  of  the  narrative  rises  as  it 
comes  to  the  tale  of  the  voyage,  and 
swells  into  long,  undulating,  tremu- 
lous words,  as  though  the  memory 
of  its  sensations  had  dwelt  in  the 

mind: — “ Nauta  ille  cum  classibus 

suoque  nauclero,  naulo  impenso  [fare], 
circio  flante  [wind],  ponte  pollenti 
[tide],  remigiis  crepitantibus  [row- 
ing], clas&ibus  clamantibus,  celocem 
ascenderunt.  Tumque  transmeatis 

maritimis  fluctuum  formidinibw 
periculo8ique  pelagi  pressures,  vas- 
tum  per  equor  citato  celocis  cursu , 
prosperis  ventis,  velata  nave  . . . 


viderunt  terram.” 

3 Lucca,  reads  the  text,  was  in  the 
“ Gorthonic  ” land.  In  Gorthonicum , 
Mabillon  and  the  Bollandists  have 
conjectured  Dertonicum,  from  JDer- 
tona,  now  Tortona , near  Alessandria. 

4 St.  Frediano,  c.  8. 

5 With  the  epitaph : — 

“ Hie  rex  Richardus  requiescit,  scep- 
tifer,  almus, 

Rex  fuit  Anglorum,  regnum  tenet 
iste  Polorum  . . . 

Hie  genitor  Sanctse  Walburgse 
Virginis  alma) 

Est,  Vrillebaldi  Sancti  simul  et 
Vinebaldi, 

Suffragium  quorum  nobis  det 
regna  Polorum.” 


IV.] 


WILLIBALD  IN  FRANCE  AND  ITALY. 


147 


persevered,  journeying  on  through  the  “ vast  lands  of  Italy, 
through  the  depths  of  the  valleys,  over  the  steep  brows  of 
mountains,  over  the  levels  of  the  plains,  climbing  on  foot 
the  difficult  passes  of  the  Alps,  and  directing  their  steps 
on  high,”  passing  the  ice-bound  and  cloud-capped  summits 
without  the  loss  of  one  of  their  companions,  and  trium- 
phantly “ escaping  the  cunning  violence  of  armed  men.” 1 
About  Martinmas  they  descended  upon  Rome,  the  “ Ladder 
of  Learning,”  and  entered  the  “ Church  of  Holy  Peter.” 
Till  the  Easter  following — and  after — they  stayed  in  the 
city,  and  under  the  protection  of  Gregory  II.,  still  subject 
in  name  to  the  exarchs  of  Ravenna,  and  to  their  master,  the 
heretic,  if  heroic,  Emperor  Leo,  Isaurian  and  iconoclast,2 
now  struggling  to  restore  the  Empire  from  Constantinople. 
During  the  heat  of  summer  the  brother  suffered  from  fever, 
and  it  may  have  been  the  unhealthiness  of  Rome  that 
suggested  further  travels.  In  any  case,  Willibald,  “that 
illustrious  worshipper  of  the  Cross  of  Christ,  sighing  for 
heights  of  virtue  yet  unattained,  desired  a greater  and  more 
unknown  pilgrimage  than  that  wherein  he  rested,”  and 
determined,  whatever  the  cost,  “ to  reach  and  to  gaze  upon 
the  walls  of  that  delectable  and  desirable  city  of  Jerusalem.”  3 
In  the  spring  of  722,  accordingly,  the  pilgrims,  now 
reduced  to  three,  set  out  for  Syria,  and,  travelling  to  Naples 
by  way  of  Terracina  and  Gaieta,  found  a ship  from  Egypt 
that  would  serve  to  take  them  on  their  journey.  But  never 
before  or  after  was  their  venture  more  difficult.  Charles  the 


1 Liutprand,  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards, was  the  most  troublesome 
neighbour  for  passengers  over  the 
Alps,  who  were  not  yet  in  much 
danger  from  the  Saracens  on  this  side 
till  they  reached  the  Mediterranean 
coasts. 

2 Canon  Brownlow,  in  his  meagre 


edition  of  Willibald  for  the  Palestine 
Pilgrim’s  Text  Society,  1891,  remarks, 
with  a certain  flavour  of  injustice  to 
the  introducer,  or,  at  least,  popular- 
iser  of  Greek  Fire,  on  the  “ decrepi- 
tude and  tyranny  of  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire, then  under  Leo  the  Isaurian.” 

3  Chs.  8-10  (note). 


148 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[On- 


Great  had  not  yet  come  to  rally  Western  Christendom,  and 
to  give  it  a new  starting-point  and  new  hopes  of  victory. 
The  old  hospitals  and  hostelries  for  infirm  and  unprovided 
pilgrims  in  the  Holy  Land  do  not  seem  to  have  lasted  on 
from  the  time  of  Gregory  the  Great,  and  their  partial 
restoration  by  the  Frankish  princes  was  still  in  the  future. 
Throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  Caliphate,  from  the 
Oxus  to  the  Pyrenees,  Christians  were  beaten,  dispirited, 
despised,  subjected.  And  so  Christian  devotees  must  expect 
insult  and  suspicion. 

Of  this,  Willibald  had  his  full  share.  As  we  shall  see, 
his  Eastern  greeting  was  a cold  one.  He  was  thrown  inta 
prison,  and  in  danger  of  his  life  as  a spy ; he  suffered  the 
agonies  of  a long  voyage  in  the  torture  chamber  which  men 
then  called  a ship ; he  endured  all  the  wretchedness  of  a 
cold  and  hungry  winter  in  Asia  Minor.  But  his  faith  was 
strong  “ in  the  aid  of  a gracious  God,  and  in  the  support  of 
the  saints ; ” he  had  renounced  the  “ riches  of  earth,  country, 
parents,  and  kindred  ; ” and  he  did  not  flinch  from  hardship. 
All  the  way  he  and  his  friends  seem  to  move  in  an  atmo- 
sphere of  wonder  and  of  miracle,  the  offset  to  their  pathetic 
sufferings.  Thus,  in  Sicily,  his  main  interest  is  Catania, 
“where  rests  the  body  of  St.  Agatha  the  Virgin.1  And 
there  is  Mount  Etna ; and  when  it  happens  that  the  fire  ” 
of  the  volcano  “ wills  to  pour  itself  out  over  the  region,  then 
the  people  of  that  city  take  the  veil  of  St.  Agatha  and  place 
it  over  against  the  fire,  and  it  stops.”2  Again,  the  cave 
of  the  seven  sleepers  at  Ephesus,3  the  restoration  of  sight 
to  Willibald  himself  in  the  Holy  Land ; 4 the  miraculous 


1 C.  10. 

2 A wonder,  dating  from  252,  the 
year  after  her  martyrdom,  according 
to  Acta  SS.,  Feb.  5.  The  miracle 

frequently  occurred  in  succeeding 

centuries,  e.g.  the  twelfth — to  the 


eye  of  faith. 

3 C.  11. 

4 Caps.  24,  25.  In  his  whole  jour- 
ney, Willibald  seems  to  have  lived  as 
a beggar-monk. 


IV.]  WILLIBALD  IN  SICILY,  GREECE,  AND  ASIA.  149 


punishment  he  records  of  the  wicked  Jews,1  who  would 
have  carried  off  the  body  of  St.  Mary ; the  deliverance  of 
the  pilgrim  from  the  lion  in  the  plain  of  Esdraelon ; 2 the 
hell  of  Theodoric,3  where  the  traveller  expected  to  see  and 
hear  the  torments  of  the  damned,  are  all  indications  of  that 
habit  of  mind  which  is  ever  on  the  watch  for  the  super- 
natural to  appear  through  the  thin  veil  that  hides  it  from 
the  eyes  of  ordinary  men,  through  the  shadows  of  the  world 
of  matter. 

But  to  return.  From  Syracuse,  Willibald  sailed  to  the 
Morea  (“  Slavinia  ”),  now  overrun  by  the  Bulgarians,  who 
had  helped  to  place  Leo  of  Isauria  on  the  throne  of  Constan- 
tinople. Thence  he  made  his  way  to  Chios,  Samos,  and 
Ephesus,4  where  his  chief  interest  was  the  Cave  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers,  though  he  also  paid  a visit  to  the  tomb  of  St. 
J ohn.  From  Ephesus  the  pilgrims  walked  along  the  coast 5 
to  Patara  in  Lycia,  sometimes  in  the  last  stages  of  cold  and 
want  and  misery.6 

At  Eigila,7  near  Ephesus,  they  begged  some  bread,  and, 
sitting  on  the  edge  of  a well  in  the  middle  of  the  town, 
“ dipped  the  bread  in  the  water,  and  so  ate  it.”  At  Patara 
they  had  to  stay  “till  the  dreadful  freezing  cold  of  the 
winter  had  passed.”  Near  here,  at  the  Holy  Headland  of 


1 C.  20. 

2 C.  28. 

3 Caps.  30,  31. 

4 Hodceporicon,  c.  xi.,  “Ephesus, 
an  island  of  Asia,”  adds  the  Itine- 
rarium,  c.  v. 

5 Passing  on  the  way  the  mountain 
•of  the  Galliani,  or  Promontorium 
Sacum  of  Lycia,  opposite  to  the 
Chelidoniau  Islands. 

6 At  Milite,  or  Militena  (Miletus  ?), 
apparently  noticed  out  of  its  right 

place,  as  if  east  of  Lycia.  “ Two 
monks  lived  on  a stylite,”  says  Willi- 


bald, a late  survival  from  the  days  of 
the  Simeons  and  other  pillar  saints. 
Cases  in  Syria  and  Greece  are, 
however,  mentioned  as  late  as  the 
eleventh  century.  In  the  Western 
Church  the  practice  had  been  smartly 
repressed.  Cf.  Greg,  of  Tours,  H.  F. 
vii.  15,  for  the  story  of  the  ascetic 
Wulfilaich,  who  tried  the  role  of  a 
pillar  saint  in  the  diocese  of  Treves 
but  whose  bishop  demolished  the 
pillar. 

7  Phygela : cf.  Strabo,  xiv. ; Pliny, 
v.  29. 


150 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


Lycia,1  their  44  inward  parts  were  so  tom  with  want  of  food,, 
that  they  began  to  fear  the  day  of  death  was  at  hand.  But 
the  Almighty*Pastor  of  His  people  deigned  to  provide  food 
for  His  poor  serYants.,, 

At  last  they  got  to  Cyprus,  “ lying  between  the  Greeks 
and  the  Saracens,” 2 where  they  seem  to  have  been  in  rather 
better  quarters,  and  took  their  leave  of  Christendom  for 
what  proved  a stay  of  several  years  among  the  infidels. 
Landing  at  Antaradus  (Tharratae,  or  Tortosa),  in  Northern 
Syria,  they  walked  inland— twenty  to  twenty -four  miles,  on 
their  own  reckoning — to  Emesa,3  where  they  were  seized 
and  44  held  in  captivity  as  strangers  and  unknown  men.”  4 
From  this  they  were  rescued  by  a “ man  from  Spain,”  who 
had  a brother  in  the  caliph’s  palace  at  Damascus,  44  chamber- 
lain  of  the  king  of  the  Saracens,” — that  is,  of  the  Caliph 
Yezid  II.  “ And  when  that  governor  who  had  put  them  in 
prison  came  to  the  palace,  the  Spaniard  who  had  talked 
with  them  in]  prison,  and  the  captain  of  the  vessel  in  whose 
ship  they  came  from  Cyprus,  presented  themselves  before 
the  king  of  the  Saracens.  And  when  all  had  been  related 
to  the  king,  he  asked  whence  they  came.  And  they  said,, 
4 From  the  Western  shore,  where  the  sun  sets,  and  we  know 
not  of  any  land  beyond — nothing  but  water.’  ” 

This  was  too  far  for  spies,  they  pleaded,  and  the  caliph 
agreed,  and  gave  them  a pass  for  all  the  pilgrim  sites  of 
Syria,  still  left  open  to  Christian  devotees. 

With  this  permission,  they  44  travelled  one  hundred 
miles  ” to  Damascus,  44  walked  on  to  Galilee,”  visited 
Nazareth,  Cana,  Tabor,  or  Age-Mons,5  and  the  city  called 


1 Cf.  the  Itinerarium,  c.  vi.,  “ the 
place  being  then  ravaged  by  the 
storms  of  war.” 

2 “And  containing  twelve  dioceses.” 

3 The  Itinerarium,  c.  vi.,  says 

Edessa;  probably  a confusion.  The 


pilgrims  were  now  eight  in  number 
(Hod.  c.  xii.). 

4 And  strangely  dressed,  adds  the 
Itinerarium,  c.  vii. 

5 "Aytos-Mons.  On  Tabor  Willi- 
bald records  one  church,  iu  opposition 


IV.] 


WILLIBALD  IN  SYRIA. 


151 


“ Tiberiadis,”  1 on  the  shore  of  the  sea  “ upon  which  Christ 
walked  with  bare  feet,  and  through  which  the  Jordan 
flows ; ” 2 and  so  came  to  the  “ Tillages”  of “ Magdalene  ” and 
Capernaum,  the  fountains  of  Jor  and  Dan,  and  the  other 
favourite  sites,  such  as  the  place  of  the  baptism  of  Christ, 
and  the  fountain  of  Elisha. 

In  Jerusalem  itself,  Willibald  records  various  novelties, 
which  we  may  notice  as  indicating  the  pilgrim’s  habit  of 
mind.  Thus  he  refers  to  the  column  set  up  at  the  place 
where  the  Jews  tried  to  carry  off  the  dead  body  of  the 
Virgin ; to  the  Church  of  Calvary  and  the  three  memorial 
crosses  outside  its  eastern  wall;  and  to  the  stone  in  front  of  the 
Sepulchre — not  the  original,  as  other  pilgrims  had  reported, 
but  only  a copy  of  the  one  rolled  away  by  the  angel.3 
Further,  he  tells  us  about  a supposed  connection  between 
the  pool  of  Bethesda  and  Solomon’s  porch ; about  a number 
of  (fifteen)  golden  bowls  standing,  probably  as  votive  offer- 
ings, upon  the  couch  on  which  Christ’s  body  was  laid ; and 
about  certain  much-venerated  pillars  in  the  Church  of  the 
Ascension  on  Mount  Olivet.  These  last  were  set  up,  he 
tells  us,  as  a sign  of  the  two  angels  “ in  white  apparel.”  4 
“ And  that  man,  adds  Willibald  with  emphasis,  who  can  creep 
between  those  pillars  and  the  wall,  is  free  from  all  his  sins.”  5 

The  place  of  the  massacre  of  the  Innocents  he  moves 
from  Bethlehem  to  Tekoa  (Thecua)  ; in  Gaza,  after  visiting 


to  the  three  of  Ant.  Mart,  and  Arculf. 
Probably  the  others  had  perished  at 
Saracen  hands. 

1 Hod.  cc.  13,  14. 

2 Jor-Dan  we  have  met  with  in 
nearly  all  our  pilgrims  since  Jerome ; 
yet  Ambrose,  Augustine,  and  Jerome 
himself  give  the  Hebrew  derivation  of 
the  name,“  Descensio  Eorum.”  Here, 
the  Itinerary  adds  (c.  ix.),  was  a 


statue  of  Christ,  with  one  of  the 
alfj.afip6ovcra,  which  was  thrown  down 
by  Julian  the  Apostate  (Cf.  Greg. 
Tours  De  Glor.  MM.  i.  21). 

3 Hod.  cc.  18-20. 

4 “ Who  said,  Ye  men  of  Galilee, 
why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ’* 
(Hod.  c.  21). 

5 I.e.  Wins  plenary  indulgence. 


152 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISII  PILGRIMS. 


[Oh. 


the  Laura  of  St.  Saba,  he  tells  us  of  a “ holy  place,”  but 
without  any  hint  of  what  had  hallowed  the  town  which 
earlier  pilgrims  had  only  known  as  a station  on  the  great 
road  from  Syria  to  Egypt.  The  town  of  Hebron  appears 
in  his  guide-book  as  Aframia  (Abramia  P),1  a name  which 
recalls  its  crusading  title  of  Abraham’s  Castle.  Again, 
Lydda  is  changed  by  him  to  “ St.  George,”  from  the  dedi- 
cation of  a church  in  the  town  ; and  Tyre  and  Sidon,  on  the 
“ Adriatic  ” sea,  as  the  Levant  was  now  called,  he  brings 
within  six  miles  of  one  another.2  Perhaps  he  was  deceived 
by  his  guides.  He  had  lost  his  sight  for  two  months  before 
it  was  miraculously  restored  him  in  the  Church  of  the 
Invention  of  the  Cross,  and  in  the  guide-book’s  strange 
jumble  of  routes  and  places,  we  cannot  be  sure  of  the  actual 
sequence  of  his  wanderings.3  We  can  only  tell  from  the 
narrative  that  he  was  on  four  separate  occasions  in  Jerusalem, 
and  that  he  traversed  the  whole  length  of  the  Holy  Land, 
blind  or  seeing,  several  times. 

For  many  months  he  had  tried  to  get  his  passport  for 
leaving  Syria  ;4  at  last,  seemingly  about  the  year  726,  he 
escaped,  just  in  time  to  save  himself  from  the  persecution 
begun  by  Caliph  Yezid  against  the  subject  Christians  of 
the  East  in  727.5  But  before  this,  while  he  was  still  in 


1 Castellum  Aframiae,  cf.  Itin.  c. 
xiii. 

2 They  are  really  twenty  miles 
apart. 

3 This  may  be  due  to  the  dictating 
method  of  the  narrative.  The  nun 
to  whom  Willibald  was  speaking 
might  be  called  off  every  now  and 
then  to  meals,  or  to  hours  of  prayer ; 
and,  in  resuming,  some  part  of  the 
story  might  be  forgotten. 

* Among  the  last  places  he  men- 

tions in  Palestine  are  Tripolis, 


Damascus  (re)  Caesarea  (re)  Emesa 
(re),  Salamaitha  or  Salameyeh  (the 
Sa  lamias  of  the  Antonine  Itinerary, 
eighteen  Roman  miles  from  Emesa), 
Sebastia,  “ formerly  called  Samaria,” 
and  the  wide  plain  full  of  olive-trees 
(Esdraelon),  where  he  met  the  lion  of 
c.  28,  who  “threatened  him  with 
fearful  roaring.” 

5 Though  not  in  time  to  avoid  the 
winter  storms,  which  gave  him  a 
terrible  voyage. 


IV.] 


WILLIBALD’S  RETURN. 


153 


Jerusalem,  he  had  purchased  some  balsam,  and  filled  a 
calabash  with  it,  and,  to  carry  this  off  in  safety,  he  had  to 
resort  to  smuggling  tricks,  which  brought  him  once  more 
within  measurable  distance  of  martyrdom. 

To  secure  his  balsam  “ he  took  a cane  that  was  hollow 
nnd  had  a bottom,  and  filled  it  with  petroleum,  and  put  it 
inside  the  calabash,  and  cut  the  cane  even  with  the  calabash, 
so  that  the  edges  of  both  seemed  alike  even,  and  thus  he 
closed  the  mouth  of  the  calabash.”  With  this  trophy, 
Willibald  and  his  friends  successfully  passed  the  douane 
at  the  Tower  of  Libanus,1  near  Acre.  But  “ when  they  came 
to  the  city  of  Tyre,  the  people  took  them,  and  bound  them, 
and  examined  all  their  luggage  to  find  if  they  had  anything 
contraband  hidden,  and  if  they  had  found  anything  they 
would  have  made  martyrs  of  them.”  But  they  found 
nothing  but  the  calabash,  and  when  they  opened,  and  smelt 
it,  they  only  scented  the  petroleum,  and  “ the  balsam  they 
found  not.  And  so  they  let  them  go.” 

Once  embarked  at  Tyre,  the  pilgrims  were  sailing  from 
the  end  of  November  till  Holy  Week,  when  they  anchored 
in  the  Golden  Horn,  and  Willibald  took  up  his  lodging 
in  a cell  in  the  church  “where  is  the  body  of  John 
Chrysostom.”  For  Greeks  and  Latins  were  still  in  full 
communion. 

Here,  in  a stay  of  two  years  (726-728),  the  guide-book 
tells  us  only  of  a visit  to  Nicsea,  though  the  great  icono- 
clast was  at  this  very  time  reorganising  the  whole  adminis- 
tration of  the  State,  driving  back  the  Saracens,  and 
struggling  to  “ purify  ” or  puritanise  the  Church.  For  all 
this,  intimately  as  it  concerned  the  people  and  the  religion 


1 Hod.  c.  xxviii.  Where  that 
mountain  “goes  down  into  the  sea, 
and  is  a promontory,”  with  a guard- 


house of  the  Saracens : viz.  the 
modern  Ras  el  Abyad  with  its  ruined 
tower. 


154 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


of  Latin  Christendom,  Willibald  had  no  eye.  He  does  not 
even  tell  us  how  Leo  had  threatened  Pope  Gregory  II.,  and 
been  excommunicated  for  his  impiety  in  728.  He  only  lets 
us  know  incidentally  the  result  of  this,  when  he  sailed  from 
the  Bosphorus  for  Sicily  “ with  the  nuncios  of  the  pope 
and  the  emperor  ” 1 in  that  very  year.  But,  like  Arculf, 
he  was  arrested  on  his  journey  by  a passing  curiosity  about 
“ the  isle  Vulcano  ” in  the  Liparis,  now  associated  with 
the  full-blown  legend  of  “ Theodoric’s  hell,”  where  Gregory 
the  Great  had  told  men  that  the  Gothic  “ tyrant  ” was  to 
be  seen  writhing  in  the  crater  of  the  burning  mountain,, 
damned  for  the  murder  of  Pope  John  V.,  and  of  the  senators 
Boethius  and  Symmachus,  as  well  as  for  his  own  impenitent 
Arianism.2 

The  pilgrims  of  Willibald’s  ship  went  so  far  as  to  land, 
in  their  curiosity  to  see  “ what  sort  of  a hell  it  was.”  But 
they  dared  not  climb  the  mountain  because  “ the  ashes  from 
the  foul  Tartarus  lay  there  in  heaps  at  the  top  like  snow, 
when  it  piles  up  the  falling  masses  of  flakes.  But  they  saw 
the  horrible  flame  belching  out  from  the  pit  with  a roar 
like  thunder,  and  they  gazed  in  awe  at  the  fiery  vapour  of' 
smoke  ascending  to  an  immense  height.  And  the  pumice- 
stone,  which  writers  are  wont  to  use,3  they  saw  going  forth 
from  the  hell,  thrown  out  with  the  fire,  and  swallowed  up 
in  the  sea,  where  it  fell,  and  then  again  thrown  out  by  the 
sea  upon  the  shore,  where  men  gathered  it.” 

Such  was  the  view  of  the  known  world  current  in  the 


1 Hod.  c.  xxix.  These  legates 
returned  to  Old  Rome  in  728,  when 
Gregory  II.,  as  already  said,  excom- 
municated the  emperor. 

2 At  nine  o’clock  (in  the  morning  ?) 
a hermit  had  seen  the  “ king,  with- 

out shoes  and  girdle,  his  hands  fast 


bound,  brought  betwixt  John  the 
Pope,  and  Symmachus  the  Senator, 
and  thrown  into  Vulcan’s  Gulf”" 
(Greg.  Dialogues,  iv.  30).  Cf.  Hod.. 
ch.  30. 

3  For  cleaning  parchment. 


IV.] 


WILLIBALD  IN  THE  LIPARIS,  ETC. 


155 


eighth  century  in  Latin  Christendom,  for  Willibald’s  account 
was  published  with  the  imprimatur  of  Gregory  III.,1  who 
“ turned  over  all  these  matters”  with  the  pilgrim  “in  pleasant 
and  familiar  conversation.” 

Between  these  events,  however,  which  directly  led  to 
Willibald’s  departure  for  the  German  mission,  and  his  return 
from  Syria,  ten  years  elapsed.  For  travelling  from  the 
Liparis  by  way  of  Naples,  Capua,  and  Teano,  he  came  to 
the  great  monastery  of  the  Benedictines  at  Monte  Cassino. 
“ And  when  the  venerable  man  (and  Tidbert,  who  had 
travelled  with  him  through  all)  came  to  St.  Benedict  ” — or, 
in  other  words,  to  his  successor,  the  abbot  Petronax — “ he 
took  up  again  his  old  intended  profession,”  and  passed  ten 
years  among  the  brethren  as  sacristan,  dean,  and  porter. 
When  he  joined  the  monastery  he  had  been  seven  years  absent 
from  the  West,  and  it  was  ten  since  he  quitted  England. 
Twenty  years  in  all  had  thus  passed  before  Willibald,  in 
escorting  a Spanish  monk  to  Borne,  found  opportunity  to 
publish  his  journey  before  the  “ apostolic  ” pope.2 

At  the  request  of  his  uncle  Boniface,  he  was  now  sent 
into  Germany  to  aid  him  in  his  work  among  the  heathen ; 3 
and,  travelling  by  Lucca,  “ where  his  father  rested,”  Ticino* 
Brescia,  and  Garda,  he  came  at  last  to  Eichstadt,  which 
Boniface  formally  resigned  to  him  as  his  bishopric.4  His 
scruples  were  overcome,  it  is  said,  by  the  trenchant  argument 
that  he  was  fit  for  the  work,  and  “whoever,  like  himself, 
endued  with  power,  refuses  the  office  of  a prelate  and  prefers 
his  own  peace  to  the  welfare  of  others,  deserves  to  suffer 
the  pains  of  as  many  of  the  damned  as  the  number  of  sinners 
whose  morals  he  might  have  corrected  as  a prelate.” 


1 Hod.  cc.  33,  31. 

2 Hod.  cc.  32,  33. 

3 This  request,  according  to  the 

Itinerarium,  cc.  xvi.-xyii.,  was  defin- 


itely made  before  Willibald  came  to 
Rome  with  the  Spanish  monk. 

4  Hod.  cc.  35-37 ; Itin.  xvii. 


156  THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS.  [Oh. 

Consecrated  in  741,  and  becoming,  after  his  uncle’s 
martyrdom  in  754,  the  leader  of  the  German  mission, 
Willibald  survived  till  785,  and  it  is  evident,  from  the 
introductory  chapter,  that  the  final  touches  at  any  rate 
were  not  put  to  his  guide-book  till  after  this,  but  the  main 
part  of  the  account  was  dictated  by  himself  on  the  23rd  of 
June  in  a year  unnamed.1 

Willibald  is  the  chief  Latin  pilgrim  in  the  time  between 
Arculf  and  the  imperial  restoration  of  Charlemagne,  but 
we  cannot  think  that  in  him  we  have  much  of  an  explorer, 
discoverer,  or  scientific  observer.  Beyond  his  visits  of 
religious  devotion  he  tells  us  little.  He  met  a buffalo  and 
a,  lion  in  Palestine  at  different  times ; he  describes  the  cattle 
standing  in  the  Syrian  pools ; and  he  was  interested  in  the 
Volcano  island  of  the  Liparis — although  the  last  named 
seems  to  have  attracted  him  more  as  Theodoric’s  hell  than 
as  a marvel  of  nature.  These  allusions  do  not  prove  much 
of  a secular  interest,  but  we  must  be  content  with  them 
and  a few  others — such  as  the  account  he  gives  us  of  his 
imprisonment,  of  the  Saracen  guard-house  on  Mount 
Libanus,  of  the  Customs  at  Tyre  and  his  own  sanctified 
fraud  therein,  and  of  the  blackmailing  of  the  Nazareth 
Christians  by  the  Arabs,  who  threatened  to  destroy  the 
local  church.  His  defence  before  the  caliph  is  put  in  the 
ordinary  language  of  Latins,  who  thought  Western  Europe 
was  one  extreme  end  of  the  world  of  land,  beyond  which  was 
nothing  but  a waste  of  waters. 

Once  entered  into  the  Caliphate,  we  may  notice,  Willi- 
bald does  not  appear  to  have  suffered  any  definite  perse- 
cution,2 though  suspected  and  insulted  at  his  entrance  and 
his  exit.  The  Ommiads  were  comparatively  tolerant,  and  to 

1 So  Tobler,  xxxix. ; pref.  to  Hod. 

2 Cf.  Wilson  (C.  W.),  app.  in  P.P.T.  edit. 


IV.] 


FEATURES  OF  WILLIBALD’S  STORY. 


157 


that  fact  we  may  attribute,  in  part,  the  general  absence 
of  remarks  about  the  people  and  government  of  Syria  in 
our  present  tractate.  It  was  a case  of  let  well  alone  on  both 
sides. 

The  value  of  Willibald’s  narrative  is  of  course  relative^ 
from  the  dearth  of  other  notices  of  pilgrimage  in  this  time. 
Except  for  the  journey  of  the  monk  Eidelis,  we  have  no- 
other  narrative  of  an  eighth-century  traveller  from  the 
Christian  West  to  the  Levant. 

And  we  may  end  this  section  by  reminding  ourselves 
that  we  must  not  put  too  much  to  Willibald’s  account,  for 
the  form  of  his  record  is  due,  as  we  have  seen,  not  to  himself, 
but  to  a nun  and  a chaplain,  whose  views,  like  their  experience,, 
are  naturally  limited. 


III.  Latin  Pilgrims  under  the  Karling  Dynasty  : 
Bernard,  etc.,  circ.  a.d.  750-870. 

The  remaining  pilgrim-travellers  whom  we  must  notice,, 
have  this  in  common — that  their  journeys  are  all  made  in 
the  time  of  Karling,  or  Carlo vingian  rule,  between  the  years 
in  which  the  father  of  Charles  the  Great  seized  the  Frankish 
sceptre  from  the  Merwings,  or  house  of  Clovis,  and  the 
abdication  of  Charles  the  Fat  (751-888).  And  that  abdica- 
tion was,  of  course,  coincident  with  the  ruin  of  the  dynasty 
of  Pepin  and  Charlemagne,  and  with  far  greater  events  than 
the  collapse  of  any  one  sovereign  family.  For  the  close  of 
the  ninth  century  also  witnessed  the  failure  of  the  Frankish 
attempt  to  restore  the  Roman  Empire,  under  Teutonic 
leadership,  among  the  nations  of  Western  Europe ; and  it 
saw  the  appearance  of  the  heathen  Northmen  as  a “ deter- 
mining quantity  ” among  those  same  nations — which  now 
first,  perhaps,  displayed  their  inborn  dislike  of  a universal 


158 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Oh. 


monarchy,  and  their  tendency  to  group  themselves  in  a 
number  of  independent  but  powerful  states.  To  all  appear- 
ance the  elements  of  modern  civilisation,  prematurely  forced 
into  the  mould  of  the  new  Holy  Roman  Empire,  were  then 
thrown  out  of  solution ; and  the  process'  of  the  experi- 
ment had  to  be  begun  over  again.  As  to  what  specially 
concerns  us  here,  the  early  pilgrim-travel  ends  with  the 
same  epoch,  with  the  journey  of  Bernard  the  Wise — not  to 
appear  again  in  literature  until  the  twelfth  century,  and 
then  as  a resultant  of  the  First  Crusade,  and  the  consequent 
movements  of  warlike  and  commercial  enterprise. 

Here,  then,  we  find  a natural  stopping-place  ; but  in  this 
last  period  of  our  inquiry,  the  conditions  of  Western  life  are 
so  changed  from  what  they  were  in  the  time  of  Arculf  and 
of  Willibald,  that  a word  must  be  said  about  them.  In 
732, 1 only  a year  or  two  after  the  nephew  of  St.  Boniface 
returned  from  the  Levant,  Charles  Martel,  mayor  of  the 
palace,  or  chief  minister  of  the  Frankish  Kingdom,  checked 
the  Saracen  invasions  of  Western  and  Southern  France  at 
Tours  in  such  a way  as  to  stagger  their  whole  advance  upon 
this  side ; and  before  they  could  renew  the  attack,  a formid- 
able centralised  dominion  had  arisen  to  the  north  of  the 
Pyrenees,  which  even  threatened  them  with  reprisals  in  Spain. 
For  in  751-752  the  son  of  Charles  Martel,  Pepin,  the  father 
of  a still  more  famous  Charles,  added  the  name  to  the 
power  of  kingship,  with  the  approval  of  Pope  Zacharias ; 
dethroned  Childeric  III.,  the  last  of  the  long-haired  and 
faineant  Merovingian  puppets ; and  founded  a new  dynasty  in 
the  great  Teutonic  kingdom.  In  754-755  he  invaded  Italy, 
crushed  the  Lombards,  and  secured  the  safety  of  the  papacy 
by  gifts  of  land  and  cities  from  the  conquered  territory. 
His  son  and  successor,  Charles,  with  the  help  of  the  same 
1 And  again  in  737,  elsewhere. 


IV.]  THE  WESTERN  WORLD  IN  THE  KARLING  AGE.  159 

papal  alliance  on  which  his  father  had  thriven,  strengthened 
the  Frankish  hold  on  North  Italy ; and,  not  content  with 
practically  supplanting  the  Byzantine  authority  (now  only 
existent  in  name),  gained  the  authority  of  the  Church  for  a 
transference  of  the  imperial  title.  The  Middle  Ages  had 
•extraordinary  reverence  for  abstract  right;  and  it  was  no 
light  thing  for  the  men  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  to 
say  that  a lord  de  facto  was,  or  could  become,  a lord  de  jure — 
yet  this  was  what  Charlemagne  obtained.  The  Boman 
people  and  the  Roman  Church,  through  the  mouth  of  the 
bishop  of  the  imperial  city,  declared,  in  the  year  800,  that 
to  them  reverted,  in  case  of  abuse,  the  conferring  of  the 
name,  to  them  so  much  more  awful  than  the  thing  or 
reality,  of  Roman  Emperor.  The  Byzantine  rulers  had 
abused  their  title ; a woman,  Eirene,  the  murderess  of  her 
own  son,  had  usurped  what  was  sacred  to  the  nobler  sex ; 
the  throne  was  void ; and  the  electors,  reasserting  a right 
which  had  never  been  exercised,  gave  it  to  the  deliverer  of 
the  holy  see,  the  chief  among  Christian  sovereigns,  Charles, 
already  patrician,  now  Caesar  and  Augustus.  He  was  crowned 
on  Christmas  Bay,  800,  and  for  nearly  a century  his  race  held 
the  position  he  had  won  for  them.  It  was  the  first  attempt, 
by  the  Teutonic  conquerors  of  Western  Europe,  to  organise 
themselves  as  a political  and  social  whole,  analogous  to  the 
religious  unity  in  which  they  all  were  now  embraced. 
Judged  by  its  immediate  aims,  it  was  a splendid  failure ; 
but  it  created  a new  spirit  and  a new  ideal  which,  though 
realized  in  forms  rather  nationalist  than  imperial,  was  vital 
to  the  growth  of  Christendom.  The  spirit  and  the  ideal 
were  those  of  men  who  were  resolved  to  go  forward,  to 
increase  their  strength  and  widen  their  life — even  if  it  were 
in  the  name  of  a past  which  they  were  leaving  more  and 
more  irrevocably  behind  them. 


160 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


The  new  Frankish  Kingdom  was,  perhaps,  the  first  thing 
which  forced  upon  the  Moslem  intelligence  the  unwelcome 
conviction  that  there  existed  in  Europe  a compact  body  of 
resistance,  which  was  not  to  be  broken  through  by  the  force 
or  argument  of  any  Asiatic  invasion,  whether  physical  or 
spiritual.  A still  more  alarming  power  of  absorption  and 
adaptation,  of  taking  the  best  things  from  strangers  without 
altering  its  own  inner  character,  was  also  disclosed  with  ever 
greater  clearness  by  that  same  Europe  from  this  time. 

Before  his  death,  in  814,  Charles  the  Great  and  his 
Franks  rallied  the  Church  militant  with  considerable  effect ; 
driving  back  the  Saracen  dominion  to  the  Ebro,  conquering 
the  heathen  Saxons  in  the  North,  and  extending  Christianity 
in  Upper  Germany  and  along  the  coasts  of  the  North  Sea. 
And  in  spite  of  all  the  discord,  the  civil  war,  and  the  feudal 
anarchy,  which  made  head  after  the  control  of  Charlemagne 
himself  had  been  removed,  some  appearance  of  a united 
Frankish  Empire,  guarding  Europe  from  Beneventum  to 
Sleswick,  and  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Elbe,  was  maintained 
for  half  a century  longer  (c.  814-888).  The  only  important 
Mussulman  conquests  made  since  the  battle  of  Tours  were 
in  the  Mediterranean  islands.  And  with  the  arrest  of  the 
Arab  advance,  the  Arab  dominion  had  shown  the  first 
symptoms  of  division.  In  750  the  Ommiad  line  of  caliphs 
was  brought  to  a close  by  the  Abbasides ; only  one  of  the 
dispossessed  escaped  the  massacre ; but  he  was  welcomed  in 
Spain  as  the  true  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  and  so  began 
the  Western  Caliphate  of  Cordova,  which  lasted  to  1038. 
The  Abbasides,  indeed,  increased  the  Moslem  Empire  to 
east,  to  north-east,  and  to  south,  while  they  founded  a new 
Moslem  capital  in  Bagdad,  and  promoted  the  growth  of 
Moslem  commerce  and  civilisation  ; but  the  first  confidence 
of  universal  victory  for  Islam  was  now  replaced  by  more 


IV.]  THE  WESTERN  WORLD  IN  THE  KARLING  AGE.  161 


sober  ambitions,  and  the  Caliphate  little  by  little  grew 
accustomed  to  the  position  of  being  only  one,  although  the 
greatest,  among  the  powers  of  the  Earth. 

Thus  the  Byzantine  Empire  still  survived,  though  its 
position  sank  with  the  decline  of  the  Isaurian  revival ; but 
its  power  was  much  reduced  even  in  the  Balkan  peninsula 
and  in  Asia  Minor,  and  was  practically  extinct  in  the  rest 
of  the  Mediterranean. 

Four  states,  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  had 
gathered  round  themselves  every  race  and  every  country 
that  could  be  called  civilised  or  progressive — to  the  west  of 
India  and  China — with  three  exceptions.  The  British  Isles, 
the  Asturias,  and  the  Scandinavian  lands  alone  remained  out- 
side the  two  Christian  Empires  of  Franks  and  Byzantines, 
and  the  two  Caliphates  of  Bagdad  and  of  Cordova ; and  in 
this  time  the  first  of  these  exceptions  was  almost  included 
in  the  third.  For  between  the  earlier  West-Saxon  over- 
lordship of  Ecgberht,  and  the  commencement  of  the  later 
under  iElfred  (800-878),  the  greater  part  of  the  British 
Islands  was  conquered  by  the  Vikings. 

The  Spanish  Biscayan  kingdoms,  which  alone  survived 
from  the  Gothic  monarchy,  were  so  insignificant  that  they 
could  hardly  be  noticed  in  this  bird’s-eye  view  of  the  world  of 
the  Karlings  and  the  Abbassides  if  it  were  not  for  the  great 
future  that  lay  before  them.1  To  the  south  of  the  barren  • 
hills  where  they  had  found  a refuge,  in  the  lovely  regions 
of  Andalus,  Mussulman  Spain  had,  by  the  time  of  Pepin, 
already  begun  to  enjoy  a higher,  more  varied,  and  more 
refined  life  than  any  other  society  in  existence.  In  the 
air  of  that  peninsula  where  Christianity  perfected  the 
Inquisition,  the  ferocity  of  Islam  seemed  to  evaporate, 

1 And  for  the  revival  of  map-science  in  that  region,  with  the  work  of 
Beatus,  in  this  very  time. 

M 


102  THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS.  [Ch. 

and  only  tlie  purity  without  the  bigotry,  only  the  taste 
and  learning  without  the  literalism  of  the  Arabian  faith 
or  philosophy,  survived  in  the  Mosque  of  Cordova  or  the 
Giralda  of  Seville,  in  the  writings  of  the  court  of  Abder- 
rahman  III.,  or  in  the  speculations  and  researches  of 
Averroes  and  of  Edrisi. 

Under  the  Karlin g dynasty  there  are  three  principal 
names  associated  with  pilgrimage — Fidelis  (in  about  750- 
700),  Bernard  (in  807-870),  and  Frotmund  (perhaps  in  870- 
874). 1 

None  of  these  are  important,  and  none  except  Bernard 
has  left  any  adequate  account  of  himself. 

Fidelis  is  only  known  as  a traveller  in  Egypt  on  his 
way  to  Jerusalem,  and  through  the  mention  of  him  by  a 
writer  who  belonged  to  the  next  generation — Dicuil,  the 
Irish  geographer,  in  that  work  of  his  on  “ the  Measurement 
of  the  Earth,”  which,  as  we  have  seen,  furnished  a brief 
compendium  of  geographical  knowledge  as  it  stood  at  the 
opening  of  the  ninth  century.2  The  notice  in  question  is 
connected  with  a scientific  controversy  of  the  time.  Some 
declared  that  the  Nile  on  one  side  flowed  into  the  Red  Sea ; 
others  denied  this ; and  Fidelis  is  quoted  as  a witness  for 
the  allegation.  What  his  story  really  proves  is,  of  course 
(to  repeat  what  we  have  said  before),  the  continued  exist- 
ence of  that  fresh-water  canal  from  Memphis  to  Suez 
which  had  been  opened  by  Necho,  restored  by  Hadrian, 
and  again  cleared  out  by  Amrou,  to  aid  the  Arabs  in  re- 
taining Egypt.  It  was  not  finally  blocked  up  till  767, 
when  a revolt  of  the  people  of  Medina  made  men  fearful 
of  an  attack  on  Egypt  by  this  very  artery.  Fidelis,  we 
may  fancy,  was  an  Irishman,  from  his  being  mentioned  only 

1 Not  to  count  the  anonymous  “ De  I Hierusalem.” 

Casis  Dei”  or  the  “Qualiter  sita  est  | 2 Finished  825. 


IV.] 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  FIDELIS. 


163 


in  an  Irish  writing  and  in  connection  with  Irish  churchmen. 
Thus  Dicuil  tells  us  that  his  story  was  related  to  Suibhne, 
in  the  presence  of  the  writer,  then  a pupil  of  the  latter’s. 
“Brother  Fidelis,”  he  says,  was  on  his  way  with  various 
clergy  and  monks  to  worship  in  Jerusalem— and  it  may  he 
presumed  that  these  were  a party  of  the  Irish  devotees  who 
had  already  done  so  much  to  save  Christianity  on  the  Con- 
tinent, to  restore  it  in  Britain,  and  to  connect  it  with  the 
art  and  science  of  the  time  in  their  own  island.  The  geo- 
graphical aspect  of  the  Irish  Church  movement  will  be 
further  examined  in  another  chapter.  Here  we  have  to 
deal  with  the  only  important  pilgrim-record  which  that 
movement  has  left  us. 

Sailing  along  the  Nile,  the  travellers  were  astonished 
by  the  sight  of  the  Pyramids,  or  seven  barns  of  Joseph,1 
“ according  to  the  number  of  the  years  of  plenty.”  Earlier 
pilgrims  had  spoken  of  twelve ; but  now  facts  were  being 
more  strictly  brought  into  line  with  Scripture.  There  were 
four  of  these  barns  in  one  place  and  three  in  another,  and 
their  size  was  wonderful,  “ like  mountains,  all  of  stone,  square 
at  the  base,  rounded  in  the  upper  part,  and  tapering  to  a 
point  at  the  summit.”  2 Fidelis,  measuring  a side  of  one 
of  these  barns,  found  it  almost  exactly  as  we  reckon  it  to- 
day— four  hundred  feet ; while  hard  by  he  noticed  a scene 
of  slaughter,  a lion  and  eight  men  and  women,  all  lying- 
dead.  For  “ the  lion  had  slain  them  by  his  strength,  and 
they  had  slain  the  lion  with  their  spears  and  swords ; for 
the  place  of  those  barns  is  desert.” 

From  this  point,  a little  below  Memphis,  he  and  his 
friends  started  again  upon  their  voyage  along  the  Nile,  and 
sailed  on  “ to  the  entrance  of  the  Bed  Sea ; ” or,  in  other 

1 Dicuil,  vi.  12-20.  I acumen  habent.”  The  casing  was 

2 “In  fine  sublimitatis quasi gracile  | then  on  the  Great  Pyramid. 


164 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  FILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


words,  down  the  canal  to  Suez ; where  he  found  himself 
close  to  where  Moses  crossed  with  the  Israelites.  Like 
earlier  devotees,1  he  wished  to  go  and  look  for  Pharaoh’s 
chariot-wheels ; but  he  had  given  himself  up  to  go  whither- 
soever the  mariners  listed,  and  they  refused  to  delay  the 
voyage  for  any  antiquarian  researches.  Instead  of  that,  they 
hurried  him  on,  down  that  western  arm  of  the  Red  Sea,  which 
Fidelis  correctly  describes  as  about  six  miles  in  breadth, 
and  as  running  up  far  into  the  north  from  the  main. 

No  pilgrim-traveller  has  left  us  an  account  of  the  Levant 
in  the  days  of  Charles  the  Great ; but,  in  addition  to  all 
the  other  proofs  he  gave  of  his  care  for  the  holy  places,  he 
seems  to  have  inspired  the  composition  of  the  tract,  “On 
the  Houses  of  God  in  Jerusalem,”  which  may  be  dated 
within  his  reign  (about  808).  The  writer  was  possibly  not 
an  ordinary  priest;  he  was,  some  have  thought,  a man  of 
high  rank  or  office,  sent  out  by  the  emperor  himself  to  draw 
up  this  report,  so  gloomy  in  its  picture  of  the  increasing 
wretchedness  of  Syrian  Christians  and  the  decreasing 
strength  of  their  religion.  Whoever  the  author,  and 
wherever  and  however  he  put  together  his  facts  and  figures, 
the  official  tone  is  unmistakable ; but  the  subject-matter 
is  simply  and  solely  of  a religious,  and  statistical,  kind — 
it  is  almost  a stretch  of  language  to  call  it  geographical. 

Fidelis’s  own  account  makes  it  clear  that  he  could  not 
have  travelled  by  the  route  he  describes  later  than  767. 
From  this  time  just  a century  goes  by  before  another 
pilgrim-record  occurs  worth  noticing.  In  the  course  of  this 
long  interval  the  Frankish  kingdom  grows  into  the  Western 
Empire,  reaches  its  furthest  extent  of  power  and  territory, 
and  begins  to  go  to  pieces ; and  our  next  traveller,  Bernard 

1 See  Orosius,  Hist.  (i.  10) ; Philostorgius,  iii.  6 ; Cosmas,  Christ.  Topog. 
bk.  y. 


IV.]  THE  WESTERN  WORLD  AFTER  CHARLEMAGNE.  165 


“the  Wise/’  of  Mont  St.  Michel,  does  not  start  for  the 
Levant  till  this  process  of  dissolution  is  pretty  well  advanced. 

In  843  the  Treaty  of  Yerdun  recognised  the  partition 
of  the  grandsons  of  Charlemagne.  Lothair  took  the  Middle 
Kingdom ; Lewis,  or  Ludwig,  the  Eastern  or  (purely)  Ger- 
man parts  beyond  the  Rhine ; Charles  the  Bald,  the  Western 
districts,  which  represented  the  later  “France.”  And  in 
spite  of  all  efforts  to  the  contrary,  in  spite  of  all  appeals 
to  an  older  unity,  this  division  proved  permanent ; Germany, 
France,  and  Italy  were  never  again  brought  together  under 
one  central  government  like  that  of  Charles  the  Great ; 
for  the  so-called  restoration  of  the  Empire  in  884-888  was 
incomplete  in  itself,  and  but  a phantom  of  sovereignty, 
after  all. 

Meantime,  while  the  new  Christian  State  was  falling 
asunder,  the  Northmen  were  throwing  themselves  at  once 
upon  all  sides  of  it.  In  845  they  attacked  simultaneously 
the  three  kingdoms  of  the  creation  of  843.  Charles  the 
Bald  in  the  West,  and  Lewis  in  the  East,  struggled  in  vain 
against  their  ravages  for  the  next  thirty  years ; while  across 
the  Channel  the  West-Saxon  kings  were  forced  to  look  upon 
the  conquest  of  all  England  north  of  Thames  by  the  same 
Northmen,  and  in  the  South  the  Mussulmans  were  slowly 
establishing  themselves  in  Sicily  (827-878),  in  Crete  (823),1 
in  Corsica,  in  Sardinia,  and  in  various  points  of  lower  Italy, 
and  even  of  Provence.2 

Two  great  ecclesiastics  (Nicholas  in  Rome  (858-867), 
and  Photius  in  Constantinople)  were  at  the  head  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin-speaking  branches  of  the  Church  : but  the 


1 First  in  750. 

2 Thus,  in  Fraxinetum  (889);  on 
the  Garigliano  (881)  ; on  the  pass  of 
the  Great  St.  Bernard  (in  the  tenth 
century) ; in  Bari  (848-875) ; in 


Tarentum  (856-881).  They  attacked 
Marseilles  in  838,  and  Rome  in  845, 
852,  etc.  (Of.  Spruner-Menke,  Atlas, 
sheets  21,  22,  § Italien,  i.  and  ii.) 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


1(36 


wretched  Michael  the  Drunkard  was  still  reigning  on  the 
Bosphorus ; Lewis  the  German,  Charles  the  Bald,  and 
zEthelred  the  West-Saxon  were  still  helplessly  witnessing 
the  advances  of  Northmen  and  of  Moslems ; and  Chris- 
tian theologians  were  just  in  the  midst  of  their  labours  in 
the  preparation  of  the  Forged  Decretals  when  our  monk  of 
Mont  St.  Michel  was  preparing  for  his  pilgrimage. 

Bernard  started  from  Borne  in  868-869.1  That  is  the 
first  we  hear  of  him.  But  he  must  have  been  there  before 
867,  as  he  obtained  the  blessing  of  Pope  Nicholas  on  his 
journey.  He  seems  to  have  left  Jerusalem  before  the  death 
of  the  Patriarch  Theodosius,  whom  he  mentions  as  famous 
for  sanctity.  He  was  again  in  Italy  after  the  conquest  of 
the  people  of  Beneventum  by  Lewis  the  German,  in  870. 
His  visit  to  Bari  must  have  been  in  the  latter  days  of 
Saracen  dominion  within  that  city  ; for  in  875  it  was 
recaptured,  by  the  united  forces  of  Greeks  and  Germans, 
by  Lewis  and  Basil  the  Macedonian,  who  had  united  to  pull 
out  this  terrible  thorn  in  the  flesh  of  Christendom. 

Bernard’s  narrative  may  perhaps  be  compared  with 
Willibald’s  for  the  simplicity  of  its  style  and  the  length  of 
its  introduction — lengthy,  that  is,  as  compared  with  its  very 
brief  account  of  the  holy  places  themselves.  In  another 
respect,  it  reminds  us  of  Silvia’s  route.  For  these  two  are 
well-nigh  the  only  examples,  among  the  more  important 
pilgrims  (who  have  left  us  their  own  accounts),  of  the 
journey  to  Palestine  by  way  of  Egypt.  In  Bernard’s  day, 
this  was  the  regular  path  of  trade  and  travel. 


1 In  the  oldest  manuscript,  B. 
Mus.  Cotton,  Faustina,  B.  1,  the  date 
is  given  as  970 ; but  every  particle 
of  evidence  agrees  in  fixing  the  true 
date  as  in  the  text.  Compare  the 
notices  of  Pope  Nicholas;  Theodo-  ! 
sius,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  who  died  j 


869 ; Alexandrinus  Michelis,  Coptic 
patriarch,  859  - 871  ; Lewis  (II.), 
Charles,  Lothair,  and  the  sons  of 
Lothair; — all  prominent  figures  in 
ninth-century  history : and  see  the 
mention  in  William  of  Malmesbury, 
bk.  iv. ; Hardy,  Eng.  Hist.ii.  562,  563 


IV.]  JOURNEY  OF  BERNARD  THE  WISE,  868-870.  167 

His  credulity  and  ignorance  are  not  greater  than  those 
of  earlier  pilgrims ; his  sufferings  appear  to  have  been  less 
than  Willibald’s ; he  shows  no  inventive  faculty,  like 
Antonine  or  Cosmas,  no  peculiar  breadth  of  view  or  culture 
of  style,  like  Silvia  or  Arculf.1  His  miracle  of  the  sea 
retiring  on  the  anniversary  festival  at  Mont  St.  Michel  is 
like  Theodosius’  tale  of  the  Euxine  paying  homage  to  St. 
Clement  at  Cherson ; his  mention  of  the  barns  of  Joseph 
on  the  Nile  banks  recalls  the  language  of  Fidelis,  and  of 
the  “ Martyr  ” of  Placentia.  His  recital  of  the  legend  of  the 
Archangel  Michael  himself  dedicating  the  Church  at  Monte 
Gargano  is  characteristic  of  his  class  and  his  time ; and  so, 
in  another  way,  is  his  witness  to  the  extent  of  the  Saracen 
ravages  in  Italy,  and  the  hordes  of  Christian  slaves  now 
being  shipped  to  Africa. 

The  library  collected  by  Charles  the  Great  in  Jerusalem, 
intended,  like  his  hostelry,  for  the  benefit  of  Catholic 
travellers,  is  among  Bernard’s  most  valuable  memoranda, 
recording  as  it  does,  the  care  of  a true  ruler  for  the  civilisa- 
tion which  is  the  best  fruit  of  victory.  Darker  days  had 
come  now,  but  the  time  was  not  yet  forgotten  when  Saracens 
had  left  Christendom  in  peace  for  a season ; when  Frankish 
king  and  Moslem  caliph  exchanged  presents  and  courtesies ; 
and  when  Haroun  A1  Rashid  sent  to  Aachen  the  elephant 
that  Dicuil  describes,  and  the  keys  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
and  of  Jerusalem  itself. 

The  “Itinerary of  threemonks” — ofBernardfrom Brittany, 
of  one  Stephen  from  Spain,  and  of  a certain  Theudemund, 
whom  we  may  guess  to  have  been  a Frank,  and  who  came 
from  the  monastery  of  St.  Vincent  at  Bene ven turn,  starts,  as 
we  have  said,  from  Rome.  Of  the  journey  from  Northern 

1 Although  he  quotes  Bede  ( i.e . Arculf)  as  the  standard  authority  upon 
the  sepulchre  of  Christ. 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


16*  S 


[Ch. 


France  to  Italy  no  record  remains.  How  dangerous  it  then 
was  may  be  imagined  from  Bernard’s  description  of  the 
“ land  of  Borne”  itself,  or  what  we  should  call  the  Campagna, 
where  “ robbers  and  evil  men  ” so  abounded  that  those  who 
wished  to  “ go  to  St.  Peter  ” could  not  pass,  save  in  strong 
armed  bands. 

On  their  way  to  “the  holy  places  and  Babylon”  the 
party  first  went  to  Bari,  then  the  chief  seat  of  Saracen  power 
in  Italy,  by  way  of  Monte  Gargano,  where  they  saw  the 
famous  sanctuary  of  the  Great  Angel  of  the  Guarded  Mount, 
who  was  also  the  patron  of  Bernard’s  distant  home.  This 
church  (or  cave),  made  historical  in  the  time  of  the  Norman 
conquest  of  Apulia  and  Calabria  by  events  of  the  eleventh 
century,  was  so  small,  Bernard  tells  us,  that  it  was  all 
covered  by  one  rock,  from  which  oaks  were  growing.  There 
was  a monastery  here,  with  sixty  brethren,  under  an  abbot 
Benignatus,  and  it  was  probably  from  these  good  men  that 
the  travellers  learnt  how  the  archangel  in  person*  was 
supposed  to  have  hallowed  the  sanctuary.1 

The  next  stage,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  brought 
Bernard  to  Bari,  presumably  from  the  want  of  any  other 
safe  port  of  departure  for  the  Levant.  If  he  sailed  from 
a Christian  harbour,  such  as  Marseilles  or  Amalphi,  he 
would  run  a greater  risk  of  damage  from  Moslem  ships,  and 
of  a bad  reception  in  the  Moslem  ports  for  which  he  was 
bound. 

Bari  had  been  taken  by  the  Saracens,  from  the  hands  of 
the  Beneventines,  in  848.  For,  on  the  death  of  Charles  the 
Great,  as  we  have  pointed  out  already,  the  advance  of 
Islam  had  been  taken  up  with  fresh  vigour.  Mussulman 
divisions  alone  prevented  a conquest  of  Italy  as  complete 
as  that  of  Spain ; the  true  believers  had  twice  entered  the 


1 Ch.  2. 


IV.] 


BERNARD  IN  ITALY  AND  EGYPT. 


169 


Tiber  before  Leo  IV.  fortified  the  Leonine  city  against  them 
in  852,  and  the  remembrance  of  this  and  the  dread  of  worse 
may  well  have  left  Bernard  without  hope  of  success  in  his 
undertaking  except  through  the  help  of  his  enemies,  from 
start  to  finish. 

So,  “finding  out  the  chief  man  of  the  city,  by  name 
Suldanus  ” (whatever  his  name  was,  his  title  must  have  been 
Emir,  as  Sultan  was  the  dignity  of  a superior),  the  pilgrims 
“ had  all  their  voyage  settled  by  two  letters,”  which  gave 
a statement  of  their  appearance  and  their  intended  route  to 
the  authorities  in  Egypt,  at  Alexandria  and  at  “ Babylon,”  or 
Old  Cairo.  But  the  ruler  of  all  the  Saracens,  to  whom 
these  provincial  governors  were  subject — “ Amarmominus,” 
Bernard’s  version  of  Emir-al-Mumenin,  the  commander  of 
the  faithful — lived  far  away  beyond  Jerusalem,  in  Bagdad 
(“  Bagada  ”).1  For  since  Willibald’s  day  the  Ommiads  had 
been  supplanted  by  the  Abbassides,  who  had  moved  the 
capital  from  Damascus  at  the  same  time  that  the  Karlin  gs 
were  replacing  the  Merwings  as  sovereigns  of  the  Franks. 

Bernard  got  his  passports  at  Bari,  but  he  did  not  embark 
there.  He  was  sent  on  to  Tarentum,  then  likewise  in 
Saracen  hands,  and  put  on  board  a ship  bound  for  Egypt,, 
which,  with  five  others,  was  engaged  in  transporting  nine 
thousand  Christian  slaves  to  Africa.  Two  of  these  were 
bound  for  the  Barbary  coast,  two  for  Tripoli,  two  for 
Alexandria ; and,  sailing  with  these  last,  the  pilgrims  came, 
in  thirty  days,  within  sight  of  the  Pharos.  But  on  trying 
to  land,  they  were  stopped  by  the  “ captain  of  the  crew ; ” 
permission  was  only  to  be  won  with  backsheesh.  “ For  leave 
to  disembark,  we  paid  him  six  gold  pieces.”  2 

in  Palestine,”  pp.  21-30. 

2 Cc.  3-5. 


1 “ And  Axinarri,”  adds  the 
manuscript : “ Axiam  ” in  Mabil- 
lon.  See  Wright,  “Early  Travels 


170 


THE  AXGLO-FRANKISIi  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


The  same  process  had  to  be  gone  through  with  the  lord 
of  Alexandria,  who  ignored  the  letters  of  the  Soldan  of  Bari, 
till  he  had  been  paid  three  hundred  denarii,  when  he 
suddenly  became  quite  affable,  and  gave  Bernard  a letter  to 
the  governor  of  “ Babilonia,”  or  Middle  Egypt.  Insisting 
as  they  did  on  payment  by  weight,  these  Moslem  princes 
made  even  more  profit  on  this  money  of  the  road  than 
appeared  at  first  sight : “ Three  solidi  and  three  denarii  among 
them  are  six  solidi  and  six  denarii  among  ourselves.”  “ This 
Alexandria  adjoins  the  sea,”  Bernard  is  careful  to  tell  us, 
and  so  the  Venetians  were  able,  a few  years  before,  “ by  sailing 
thither,”  to  steal  away  the  body  of  St.  Mark.  For  Venice 
was  then  just  beginning  to  appear  as  a power  in  the 
Mediterranean,  like  Amalphi,  but  unstained  by  the  same 
disgraceful  alliance  with  Moslems  to  the  damage  of  Christian 
lands. 

Six  days’  sail  up  the  river  Nile,  or  “ Gighon,” — which 
flowed,  says  Bernard,  through  the  midst  of  Alexandria  into 
the  sea — brought  the  travellers  to  “ Babylon,” 1 the  ancient 
fortress  near  Fostat,  and  the  “ seven  granaries  of  Joseph.” 
Here  the  whole  party,  in  spite  of  introductions  and  cer- 
tificates, were  promptly  clapped  into  prison  till  each  had 
paid  over  again  the  old  tax  of  three  hundred  denarii . 
when  they  were  at  once  released,  and  under  the  powerful 
protection  of  the  governor,  who,  as  Bernard  was  told, 
ranked  next  to  the  caliph  himself,  they  were  safe  from 
all  further  extortion  while  in  Egypt.  Only,  in  going  from 
place  to  place,  they  were  obliged  to  provide  themselves  with 
a “ parchment  or  sealed  document,” — a passport,  in  fact, 
with  vises  constantly  redated, — before  they  were  permitted 
to  depart. 

1 The  governor  here  was  “ Adelacham,”  the  “ second  man  in  the  Empire 
of  Amarmominus.” 


IV.] 


BERNARD  IN  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 


171 


The  subject  Christians  living  under  the  Moslem  rule 
were  all  obliged  to  pay  at  least  thirteen  denarii  by  the  year ; 
but,  if  penniless,  the  strict  law  of  Koran,  tribute,  or  sword, 
was  not  enforced,  and  the  defaulter  was  only  sent  to  prison 
“ till,  either,  by  the  love  of  God,  he  is  delivered  by  His  angel, 
or  else  brought  out  by  other  good  Christians.” 

Descending  the  Nile  to  Damietta  and  Tanis,  where  he 
found  “ very  religious  Christians,  burning  with  hospitality,” 
the  pilgrim  now  set  out  for  Palestine  across  the  desert; 
noticing,  near  the  “ entrance  of  Egypt,”  three  of  “ the 
bodies  of  those  who  were  rooted  out  in  the  time  of  Moses, 
huge  as  walls — three  of  the  Colossi,  in  other  words,  of 
ancient  Egypt.1 

From  hence  to  Gaza,  at  the  “entrance  of  Syria,”  there 
were  only  two  oases,  Albara  and  Albachara,2  but  these  were 
furnished  with  hospices  and  bazaars  for  the  purchase  of 
supplies,  for  rest,  and  for  refreshment.  Before  reaching 
Gaza,  too,  there  was  a piece  of  fertile  country  : the  remainder 
was  total  desert ; “ and  well  is  it  called  a desert,  for  it  brings 
forth  no  herb  nor  anything  grown  from  seed,  save  palm- 
trees,  but  is  white  like  the  earth  in  time  of  snow.”  Through 
this  Bernard  painfully  made  his  way,  and  at  Gaza,  “ Samson’s 
town,  a city  exceeding  rich  in  everything,” 3 he  at  last 
reached  the  sacred  ground  of  Palestine. 

But  here  his  account  (which  though  brief  has  been 
hitherto  fairly  ample)  dwindles  into  a bare  enumeration  of 
sites  and  churches,  and  only  details  one  or  two  marvels,  such 
as  that  of  the  Holy  Eire,  which,  though  probably  as  old  as 
the  second  century  in  one  form  or  another,  and  noticed  by 


1 Bernard,  ch.  8. 

2 “ The  well  ” and  “ the  pulley.” 

These  two  are  made  into  one  by  Cler- 
mont Ganneau,  “ Revue  Critique,” 
1876,  ii.  p.  394 — rather  unreason- 


ably, as  it  seems.  Bernard’s  route 
lay  through  Farama  and  Alariza 
(Pelusium  and  Al-Arish). 

3  As  Antonius  Martyr  had  found  it. 
Bernard,  ch.  9. 


172 


THE  AXGLO-FRAXKISII  PILGRIMS. 


[Oh. 


Gregory  of  Tours  at  the  end  of  the  sixth,  was  now  beginning 
to  attract  wider  attention. 

“ On  Easter  Eve,”  says  Bernard,  “ after  the  office  is  done, 
Kyrie  Eleison  is  chanted ; till,  by  the  coming  of  an  angel,  the 
light  is  kindled  in  the  lamps  that  hang  before  the  sepulchre 
of  the  Lord ; ” and  these  words  of  his  are  quoted  by  William 
of  Malmesbury  as  an  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
miracle.  The  twelfth  century  relies  on  the  word  of  the 
ninth. 

In  Jerusalem  the  pilgrims  were  comfortably  lodged  in 
the  “ hostel  of  the  glorious  Emperor  Charles,” 1 which  he  had 
built  for  all  who  came  there  to  worship,  “ speaking  the 
Roman  tongue;”  and  enjoyed  the  use  of  the  library  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Mary  close  by,  collected  by  the  care 
of  the  same  great  prince.  Yet  they  seem  to  have  made 
but  a short  stay.  At  least  they  recorded  little.  Bernard 
tells  us,  indeed,  of  four  “ pre-eminent  ” churches,  built  round 
the  Holy  Sepulchre ; of  the  place  said  to  be  the  centre  of 
the  world  and  marked  out  with  chains,  in  the  midst  of  the 
court-yard  between  the  same  four  churches;  of  the  stone 
that  the  angel  rolled  away  from  the  tomb — for  only  the 
original,  and  no  mere  copy,  will  satisfy  travellers  in  this 
age  ; of  Solomon’s  Temple,  which  contained  the  synagogue 
of  the  Saracens ; of  the  iron  gates  through  which  the 
angel  led  forth  St.  Peter,  never  opened  afterwards ; of  the 
four  round  tables  of  the  Last  Supper;  of  the  writing  on 
the  marble  which  Christ  traced  with  His  finger,  and  which 

1 In  Charlemagne’s  day,  there  j keys  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and 
was  friendship  between  the  (Eastern)  I of  Jerusalem,  (2)  an  elephant,  and 
Caliphate  and  the  Frankish  Kingdom,  | (3)  dogs.  Cf.  Dicuil,  yii.  35;  Ein- 
So  he  was  naturally  allowed  to  pro-  | hardt  Vita  Car.  16;  Mon.  Sangal. 
vide  for  the  better  reception  of  j Gesta  Carolina,  ii.  9 ; Pertz  Script, 
travellers  from  his  own  land.  The  ii.  752.  The  story  of  Charles’s  pil- 
Caliph  Haroun  A1  Rashid  is  also  grimage  is  found  in  an  Anglo-Norman 
said  to  have  sent  Charles  (1)  the  { poem  of  the  twelfth  century. 


IV.] 


BERNARD  IN  JERUSALEM;  HIS  RETURN. 


173 


was  now  to  be  seen,  after  centuries  of  forgetting  ; and  of  the 
pool  in  which  Lazarus  washed  after  his  resurrection ; — hut 
his  catalogue  is,  after  all,  a meagre  one,  and  for  many  of  his 
details  he  seems  to  refer  to  Arculf’s  book,  which  he  had 
certainly  read  in  Bede’s  abridgment. 

Near  Bethlehem,  Bernard  was  shown  a curious  memorial 
— the  field  where  Habakkuk  was  working  when  the  angel 
bade  him  carry  his  dinner  to  Daniel  in  Babylon.1  And  as 
to  this  Babylon,  he  adds,  it  is  to  the  south  of  Jerusalem,  a 
different  place  from  the  Babylon  of  Egypt,  but  now  unap- 
proachable; serpents  and  wild  animals  alone  inhabit  it.2 

With  this  his  journey  begins  to  point  again  towards 
home.  After  visiting  a few  of  the  monasteries  of  Judsea,  but 
apparently  without  any  exploration  of  Central  or  Northern 
Syria,  Bernard  came  down  “ from  Jerusalem  to  the  sea,” 
took  ship,  and,  after  sixty  days  of  tempestuous  sailing,  landed 
at  Mons  Aureus  in  Italy,  and  so  made  his  way  to  Rome. 

Here,  in  the  Lateran,  the  proper  seat  of  the  “ apostolic  ; ” 
in  St.  Peter’s,  “ on  the  west  side  of  the  city,  that  for  size  had 
no  equal  in  the  world ; ” and  among  the  “ countless  ” relics 
of  saints  which  Rome  even  then  contained,  Bernard  found 
solace  after  his  toils  : but,  in  spite  of  his  Christian  loyalty, 
his  thoughts  seem  to  go  back  to  the  peace  and  strong  govern- 
ment of  Islam  with  a sort  of  regret,  when  face  to  face  with 
the  thieves  and  robbers  of  Italy.  For  fear  of  these,  as 
well  as  of  Saracen  corsairs,  the  keys  of  Rome,  he  noticed, 
were  brought  every  night  to  the  pope  himself;  in  the 
absence  or  paralysis  of  the  secular  power,  the  bishop  of  the 
city  had  to  provide  for  its  defence,  and  the  pontiffs  of  the 
ninth  century  did  their  duty  manfully. 

But  in  the  duchy  of  Beneventum,  in  the  Campagna,  in 

1 Bell  and  Dragon,  34 ; Bernard,  I 2 Cf.  Theodosius,  ch.  83  (Gild), 
nhs.  11-16. 


174 


THE  ANGLO-FRANKISH  PILGRIMS. 


[Ch. 


Lombardy,  and  in  Brittany,  the  fight  with  misrule  was 
a hard  one.  The  people  of  Beneventum,  in  murdering  their 
prince  Sichard  “ for  his  pride  ” (a.d.  839),  had  been  just  in 
time  to  prevent  his  murdering  them,  but  in  the  result  they 
had  abandoned  most  of  South  Italy  to  the  Saracens ; here 
and  in  Lombardy  Lewis  the  German  had  now  undertaken  to 
restore  order,  and  had  done  some  good;  but  anarchy  still  pre- 
vailed near  Rome  itself,  and  the  state  of  his  native  Brittany 
Bernard  indicates  clearly  enough  by  one  remark.  The 
blood-feud  was  so  savage  that  the  chance  passer-by,  in  the 
absence  of  a kinsman,  was  bound  to  avenge  the  injured,  and 
death  was  the  punishment  for  any  theft  above  four  denarii.1 
There  must  have  been,  then  and  there,  as  many  sturdy 
beggars  as  in  England  in  the  days  when,  if  a man  stole  aught 
above  thirteenpence  halfpenny,  the  law  said  he  should  hang 
for  it. 

About  the  same  time  as  the  pilgrimage  of  Bernard  a 
noble  Breton,  of  the  name  of  Frotmund,  who  had  “ incurred 
blood-guiltiness,”  submitted  himself  to  an  extraordinary 
penance.  Bare-footed,  with  ashes  on  his  head,  covered  with 
a coarse  robe  of  penitence,  and  bearing  round  arms  and 
waist  a heavy  chain,  he  started  in  the.  year  870,  on  a 
sort  of  perpetual  pilgrimage.  That  is,  he  was  to  wander 
from  one  holy  place  to  another  till  God  should  relieve  him 
of  his  sin,  and  of  the  material  load  he  bore  in  evidence  of 
that  sin.  He  first  went  to  Syria,  and  stayed  some  time  in 
Jerusalem ; next  to  Egypt,  where  he  lived  with  the  monks 
of  the  Thebaid  ; next,  we  are  told,  he  was  found  praying 
at  the  tomb  of  Cyprian,  outside  Carthage  ; then  he  returned 
to  Rome,  and  tried  to  win  pardon  from  Pope  Benedict  III. 
Condemned  to  further  expiation,  he  again  travelled  to 
Jerusalem,  to  Cana  in  Galilee,  to  the  Red  Sea,  Mount  Sinai, 


1 Chs.  20-23. 


IV.]  PILGRIMAGE  OF  FROTMUND.  175 

and  the  site  of  the  resting-place  of  the  Ark  in  the  Mountains 
of  Armenia,  suffering  unnumbered  tortures  by  the  way, 
sometimes  stopped  and  scourged  along  the  roads  by  the 
infidels,  sometimes  by  his  own  austerities  bringing  himself 
near  his  end,— destitute,  afflicted,  tormented ; till  finally,  in 
the  fourth  year  of  his  wanderings,  he  was  “ delivered  from  his 
chains  of  sin  and  iron  ” at  the  tomb  of  St.  Marcellinus,  in  the 
monastery  of  Bedon.1 

The  downward  limits  of  our  present  section  are  the 
closing  years  of  the  ninth  century ; but  (in  a volume  con- 
fined to  the  earlier  Middle  Ages)  we  do  not  lose  much  by 
stopping  at  this  point.  For  the  remaining  two  hundred 
years  of  pre-crusading  history  hardly  furnish  us  with  more 
than  one  other  memorial  of  Christian  pilgrimage,  beyond 
the  scattered  references  of  chroniclers ; and  the  exception  in 
question,  the  little  treatise  “ On  the  Situation  of  Jerusalem  ’’ 
(which  some  have  plausibly  tried  to  fix  to  the  year  975,  and 
John  Tzimiskes’  brief  re-conquest  of  the  Holy  City),  is,  from 
its  solitary  position,  a confirmation  of  the  natural  fitness  of 
our  boundary.  For  now  the  field  of  exploring  activity  is 
practically  abandoned  by  the  religious  travellers  : and — 

“ The  old  order  changeth,  giving  place  to  new  ; 
t And  God  fulfils  Himself  in  many  ways, 

Lest  one  good  custom  should  corrupt  the  world.” 


1 Cf.  Tobl.  Bibl.  Geog.  Pal.  26  (edit,  of  1875). 


THE.  ROUND  WORLD  AS  REPRESENTED  IN  MEROVINGIAN  COINS. 
(From  B.  Mas.  Coin  Dept.") 


CHAPTER  V. 

COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 

I.  Commercial. 

The  commercial  intercourse  of  Christendom  with  the  non- 
Christian  world  of  this  time  lies  partly  inside  and  partly 
outside  the  story  of  exploration  and  geographical  advance. 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  find  ourselves  at  a loss  from 
the  absence  of  those  personal  notices,  those  accounts  of 
individual  travel,  which  we  have  been  able  to  use  for  the 
history  of  early  pilgrimage,  or  which  illuminate  the  pro- 
gress of  trade  from  the  Crusading  Age.  We  shall  also 
notice  with  disappointment  how  the  chief  commercial  routes 
remain  unaltered,  except  to  decline  ; how  discovery,  such  as 
marked  the  transition  from  the  mediaeval  to  the  modern 
world,  is  either  unknown,  or  merely  transitory  (as  in  the 
case  of  fresh  caravan  routes  over  thoroughly  well-known 
countries) ; and  we  must  be  careful  not  to  overrate  the  im- 
portance of  traditional  and  stationary  trade  upon  our  subject. 
We  are  only  concerned  with  matters  which  helped  to 
enlarge  or  stimulate,  in  some  way,  the  knowledge  of  the 
world  possessed  by  Christendom ; and,  as  we  have  warned 
ourselves  before,  it  will  not  aid  us  to  attend  to  a simply 
decadent  or  unprogressive  intercourse,  either  of  traffic  or 
religion,  unless  it  leaves,  for  instance,  some  landmarks,  like 
the  pilgrim-records  we  have  examined,  by  which  we  may 
check  our  position. 


V.] 


COMMERCIAL  TRAVEL,  A.D.  300-900. 


177 


But  a word  must  be  said  about  the  great  routes,  as  they 
existed  from  Constantine  to  the  fall  of  the  Karlings ; about 
the  attempts  made  from  time  to  time  to  modify  or  alter 
them ; about  the  manner  in  which  they  were,  or  were  not 
maintained,  at  their  earlier  efficiency  ; and  about  the  more 
important  notices  bearing  upon  Western  enterprise,  however 
little  of  real  novelty  there  may  be  in  any  of  them.  We 
must  welcome  and  make  something  of  even  the  smallest 
satisfactory  proof  of  a Christian  interest  in  the  vast  tracts 
beyond  the  Roman  civilisation.  Thus,  for  example,  we  shall 
not  be  at  any  pains  to  chronicle  the  coming  and  going  of 
the  regular  silk-merchants  from  Central  Asia,  through 
Persia,  to  the  Levant : but  the  two  attempts  made  by 
Justinian  and  his  successors  to  open  other  lines  of  traffic 
in  the  same  precious  article  will  be  more  to  the  point.  Yet 
there  is  a charm  about  the  very  dimness  of  the  outlook.  It 
is  true  we  have  often  to  rely  upon  suggestions,  hints, 
indications  covering  large  masses  of  unknown  or  forgotten 
detail ; we  are  forced  to  frame  our  picture  of  the  movement 
of  life  to  and  fro  upon  the  world-surface  with  the  vagueness 
of  an  unfinished,  barely  outlined  sketch  ; a mist  is  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth,  for  us ; — through  it  we  see  some  prominent 
objects,  perhaps  even  trace  the  lie  of  the  country,  but  we 
cannot  follow  from  point  to  point  those  who  are  moving  up 
and  down,  from  east  to  west,  from  north  to  south.  The 
merchant  floating  down  the  stream ; the  caravan  crossing 
the  steppe,  mounting  the  defile,  looking  out  upon  the  sea 
and  its  harbours  ; the  ferry  passing  the  river ; the  mariners 
in  their  little  ship, — they  are  real  figures,  yet  they  are 
nameless,  all  but  a few  : they  suffer,  and  they  succeed  with- 
out having  ever  found  a voice  for  their  story.  On  the 
desert,  perhaps,  a cloud  of  robber-horse  bursts  upon  them  ; 
on  the  river  their  boat  sinks  overladen;  in  the  mountain 


N 


178  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Cii. 

gorges  they  drop  with  cold  ; in  the  dirty  lanes  of  the  mart 
they  die  of  disease.  Commerce  is  not  organised,  safeguarded, 
universalised  as  at  present ; but  such  as  it  is,  its  reach  is 
wide,  and  its  life  never  quite  extinct.  And  though  the 
picture  may  be  misty,  we  must  try  and  see  our  way  through 
the  haze.  The  value  of  the  whole,  after  all,  depends  on  the 
meaning  that  the  several  parts  supply. 

And  first  of  all  as  to  the  general  tendency.  In  these 
earlier  Middle  Ages,  contrasting  somewhat  with  the  Caesars’ 
time,  contrasting  absolutely  with  our  own,  the  centre  of 
trade-energy  is  in  Asia,  and  not  in  Europe  : — 

“ The  seer  from  the  West  was  then  in  shade  ; 

The  seer  from  the  East  was  then  in  light.” 

As  the  Oriental  reaction,  rising  up  against  the  tide 
of  Greek  and  Roman  influence  which  poured  in  with 
Alexander  and  with  Caesar,  added  strength  to  strength  in 
the  Persian  and  Arabian  revivals  of  Asiatic  Empire  ; as  the 
Mediterranean  civilisation  seemed  to  decay;  and  as  Gaul, 
Spain,  Italy,  and  Britain  were  brought  face  to  face  with 
barbarism ; — the  old  world,  as  it  had  been  before  Marathon, 
appeared  almost  to  have  returned.  The  wheel  had  come 
half-circle  round. 

But  to  go  back  a little.  What  were  the  trade  routes  that 
the  Roman  world,  when  it  became  Christian,  carried  on  from 
its  pre-Christian  time  ? for  they  continued  the  same,  only 
under  varying  control,  through  the  earlier  Middle  Ages. 

They  were  mostly  from  east  to  west,  or  from  west  to 
east;  for,  on  the  north,  beyond  the  Elbe  and  the  Carpa- 
thians— as  well  as  on  the  south,  beyond  the  Sahara  and  the 
Arabian  desert, — there  was  not  much  commerce  to  be  had, 
with  two  exceptions.  The  amber  trade  of  the  Baltic  coasts, 
and  the  gold,  ivory,  and  slave  trade  of  the  Zanzibar  coast, 
beyond  Guardafui,  were  the  only  important  flank  diversions 


V.] 


TRADE  ROUTES  OF  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 


179 


of  the  mercantile  activity  which  moved,  like  the  course 
of  the  great  mountain  ranges,  across  the  length  or  longitude 
of  the  Old  World.  For  the  Red  Sea  channel,  so  important 
for  East  African,  Arabian,  and  Indian  products,  was  mainly 
along  the  same  line,  along  the  same  “ path  of  the  sun  ” as 
the  Central  Asian  track.  From  the  Indus  to  the  straits 
of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  its  direction  was  parallel  to  the  over- 
land and  caravan  route  followed  by  the  chief  part  of  the 
same  Indian  commerce;  from  Aden  to  Suez,  and  up  the 
canal 1 from  Suez  to  the  Nile,  the  straight  line  from  east  to 
west  was  bent,  as  it  were,  to  run  north-west ; but  it  was 
only  in  the  by-path  along  East  Africa  that  a flank  move- 
ment, similar  to  the  northern,  was  really  followed. 

Meantime,  from  the  Levantine  coasts  the  Mediterranean 
Empire  had  choice  enough  for  the  extension  of  its  traffic 
into  Asia,  both  in  the  way  of  imports  and  of  exports.  There 
was  the  route  from  Byzantium  and  Trebizond,  which  crossed 
the  isthmus  of  the  Caucasus,  traversed  the  Caspian,  and 
ascended  the  Oxus  to  Bokhara  and  Samarcand ; still  pro- 
ceeding eastwards,  it  forked — one  branch  turned  north-east 
to  China,  another  south-east  to  India.  There  was  the 
Euphrates  waterway,  starting  from  Callinicum  or  Rakka  in 
Syria,  and  bringing  the  traveller  through  the  Persian  Gulf, 
and  along  the  coasts  of  the  G ulf  of  Oman  and  Baluchistan 
to  the  Indus.  And  there  was  also  the  main  Persian  road,2 
which,  crossing  the  upper  Euphrates  near  Birrah,  and  passing 
Nisibis,  ran  on  steadily,  first  due  east,  then  north-east,  to 
the  Oxus,  where,  like  the  first-named  track,  it  divided,  to 
seek  both  the  treasure-houses  of  Further  Asia. 


1 Cf.  Heyd,  Commerce  du  Levant 
(edit,  of  Soc.  de  L’Or.  Lat.,  1885-86), 

i.  10-11.  Open  at  intervals,  e.g.  (1) 
uuder  Necho,  (2)  under  [some  of] 
the  Ptolemies,  (3)  under  Pladrian 


and  Trajan,  (4)  in  the  early  sixth 
century,  (5)  from  Amrou’s  conquest 
to  767. 

2 Cf.  Pliny,  vi.  17 ; Heyd,  Com- 
merce du  Levant,  i.  4,  5. 


180 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


Viewed  again,  from  the  Chinese  or  Turkish  standpoint, 
there  were  three  separate  ways  from  the  Eoof  of  the  World 
to  the  Levant : the  first,  from  Lake  Balkash  by  Talas,  the 
main  seat  of  trade  between  the  Jaxartes  and  the  Wall  of 
China,  and  thence  across  Sogdiana  and  the  Caspian  to  the 
Black  Sea;  the  second,  from  Kashgar  by  Merv,  and  so 
through  Persia  to  the  south  of  the  Caspian ; the  third  from 
Ivhotan  and  Yarkand,  across  the  Pamir  and  the  Hindu  Kush 
to  the  Indus  valley,  from  which  men  either  went  by  sea 
along  the  coast  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  or  followed  a land  route 
parallel  to  this. 

A path  of  minor  importance,  and  connected  with  the 
main  Black  Sea  avenues  of  commerce,  ran  from  the  lower 
Danube  round  the  north  of  the  Euxine,  and  was  employed 
by  the  Scythian  and  Grseco-Roman  settlements  in  the 
Crimea ; while  the  Bed  Sea  outlet,  already  noticed,  though 
deriving  most  of  its  value  from  the  Indian  trade,  carried 
the  more  daring  merchant  along  the  shore  of  Africa  to 
the  equator,  and  possibly  beyond,  to  the  islands  of  Pemba 
and  Zanzibar.  The  northern  amber  and  fur  trade,  such 
as  it  was,  probably  followed  the  course  of  one  of  those  great 
rivers,  the  Dnieper,  the  Oder,  or  the  Vistula,  which  formed 
the  natural  roads  between  Baltic  and  Mediterranean  lands. 

These  were  the  main  arteries  of  the  commerce  of  that 
ancient  world,  which  reached  its  highest  development  and 
its  clearest  interconnection  in  the  time  of  Ptolemy,  in  the 
second  century  after  Christ ; when  the  Antonines  1 sent  their 


1 In  the  Chinese  records  both  the 
Antonines  (antun)  in  a.d.  166 ; and 
the  sovereign  reigning  in  a.d.  282-3, 
viz.  Carus,  sent  embassies  to  the 
Celestials  (the  latter  arriving  in 
284);  and  in  the  Roman  records, 
envoys  from  the  Central  Flowery 
Kingdom  are  said  to  have  appeared 


before  Augustus  (Florus,  iv.  12)  pro- 
bably for  trade  negotiations.  Later 
on,  Cosmas  in  the  sixth  century,  Theo- 
phylact  Simocatta  in  the  seventh, 
were  possibly  acquainted,  although 
only  by  hearsay,  with  China  (or 
Cochin-China) ; and  the  Chinese 
speak  of  Byzantine  ambassadors  ap- 


V.] 


LIMITS  OF  ANCIENT  ENTERPRISE. 


181 


mission  to  the  Court  of  China,  and  when  the  furthest 
extension  of  Greek  and  Roman  knowledge  and  influence,  to 
east,  south,  and  north,  had  been  accomplished.  It  was  a 
world  bounded  by  the  inland  of  China  and  Further  India 
on  the  east ; by  the  Gobi  Desert,  the  Kirghiz  Steppes,  the 
plains  of  “ Great  ” or  Central  Russia,  the  Baltic,  and  the 
German  Ocean  on  the  north ; by  the  Atlantic  on  the  west ; 
and  by  the  Sahara,  the  marshes  of  the  Kile,  the  Arabian 
Desert,  and  the  Indian  Ocean  on  the  south.  On  this  side, 
however,  occasional  glimpses  had  been  caught,  both  of  the 
Soudan  countries  beyond  the  Sahara,  of  Southern  Arabia,1 
and  of  the  shore  lands  of  East  Africa  stretching  far  beyond 
the  furthest  south  of  continental  or  inland  knowledge.  But, 
with  these  exceptions,  the  limits  we  have  sketched  were 
final  even  for  Ptolemy;  and,  without  committing  ancient 
knowledge  in  general  to  his  peculiar  theories  and  extra- 
ordinary misconceptions,  we  may  say  pretty  confidently 
that  the  horizon,  both  of  ordinary  men  and  of  geographers, 
was  narrower  than  his,  down  to  the  age  of  Viking  discovery. 


pearing  in  643,  711, 719,  742,  perhaps 
to  ask  for  aid  against  the  Arabs,  such 
as  was  sought  in  vain  by  Yezdegerd, 
the  last  king  of  Sassanid  Persia. 

1 As  by  JElius  Gallus  (with  whom 
went  Strabo)  in  his  march  to  Mar - 
siaba,  possibly  Yemen,  in  b.c.  24 
(Strabo,  xvi.  4,  §§  22-24)  ; by  Petro- 
nius,  in  his  capture  of  Premnis 
and  Napata,  probably  Abou  Hammed 
on  the  Upper  Nile,  below  Khar- 
toum, c.  b.c.  20  (Strabo,  xvii.  1 ; 
Dion  Cassius,  liv.  5 ; Pliny,  H.  N.  vi. 
29)  ; by  Cornelius  Balbus,  in  his  con- 
quest of  the  Garamantes,  in  the 
modern  Fezzan,  b.c.  20  (Pliny,  H.  N. 
v.  36;  cf.  Yirgil,  iEneid,  vi.  795); 
by  Septimius  Flaccus  and  Julius 
Maternus,  in  their  expeditions  to 


Agisymba,  possibly  the  region  of 
Lake  Tchad,  at  a date  unfixed,  but 
probably  in  the  time  of  Trajan,  a.d. 
97-117  (Ptolemy,  Geog.  i.  8,  § 5)  ; by 
Trajan  himself,  in  his  march  against 
the  ^Ethiopians,  in  one  tradition  pre- 
served by  Antoninus  Martyr  in  Jus- 
tinian’s day  (Ant.  c.  35);  by  the 
centurions  of  [?  Julius  Csesar  and  of  ] 
Nero,  in  their  journey  up  the  Nile 
valley  in  search  of  the  river’s  sources, 
which  seemed  to  them  to  lie  where 
we  now  find  the  Great  Marshes  in 
about  9°  N.  Lat.  (Pliny,  H.  N.  vi. 
29,  and  Seneca,  Nat.  Qusest.  vi.  8) ; 
cf.  the  journey  of  the  Knight  Juli- 
anus  under  Nero  to  the  Baltic 
in  search  of  amber  (Pliny,  H.  N. 
xxxvii.  3). 


182 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Oh. 


Yet,  narrower  or  wider,  the  commercial  outlook  and  inter- 
course of  the  Caesars  and  their  subjects  was  very  extensive ; 
compared  writh  that  of  the  earlier  mediaeval  period,  it  may 
fairly  be  called  immense ; and  yet,  perhaps,  the  successes 
already  gained  were  an  obstacle  to  greater.  In  one  sense,  the 
light  that  was  in  them  proved  to  be  darkness.  The  Roman 
world,  gathered  round  the  great  inland  sea,  was  so  rich, 
so  highly  organised,  so  self-content,  that  it  made  no  serious 
effort  to  explore  the  ocean,  or  to  follow  up  barren  and 
unknown  coasts,  in  hope  of  treasures  beyond.  There  was 
no  commercial  need  for  trying  to  open  up  the  waterway 
round  Africa,  as  the  Phoenicians  claimed  once  to  have  done 
six  centuries  before  Christ.1  When  the  caravan  routes  and 
river  highways  to  India  and  further  Asia  were  in  such  good 
order,  even  the  most  adventurous  would  not  embark  on  the 
perilous  voyage  from  West  to  East,  from  Spain  to  the  Ganges, 
which  was  certainly  believed  as  possible  by  the  more 
advanced  of  ancient  geographers  fifteen  hundred  years 
before  it  was  realised  in  the  American  and  Pacific  voyages 
of  1492  and  1520.  Columbus  and  Diaz,  Da  Gama  and 
Magellan  were  not  anticipated,  chiefly  because  the  same 
suggestions  of  gain  did  not  occur  to  men  who  were  living- 
in  the  splendid  and  proud  society  of  the  Julian  or  Flavian 
or  Antonine  emperors.  There  was  the  added  reason  that 
the  compass 2 and  quadrant  were  unknown,  and  nautical 
science  in  its  childhood ; but  this  fact  in  itself  forces  us  to 
look  for  an  explanation.  If  Greek  thought  had  cared  to 
give  its  attention  to  ocean  voyaging,  it  would  soon  have 
made  headway.  But  it  was  interested  in  the  theory  of  the 
world,  its  shape  and  size,  far  more  than  in  the  practical 


1 That  ancient  commercial  enter- 

prise was  pretty  far  advanced  (down 
the  East  African  coast)  is  proved  by 
the  Mashonaland  gold  mines  of  the 


Sofala  shore,  and  the  “ ruined  cities  ” 
of  that  region.  But  these  were  almost 
undoubtedly  pre-Roman. 

2 Though  not  the  magnet  stone. 


V.] 


DECLINE  OF  ROMAN  TRADE. 


183 


exploration  of  the  same ; and  while  Eratosthenes 1 could 
calculate  pretty  accurately  the  circumference  of  the  globe, 
and  while  Ptolemy  could  discuss  with  admirable  thorough- 
ness the  mathematical  and  astronomical  basis  of  geography, 
the  maps  even  of  the  last-named  gave  only  an  approximate 
account  of  lands  already  well  known ; discovery  and  travel 
hardly  ever  pushed  beyond  a limited  part  of  the  north 
temperate  zone;  even  the  West  African  islands  were 
practically  unvisited ; and  the  most  daring  of  Greek  navi- 
gators2 declared  that  all  progress  in  the  jN’orth  Sea  was 
barred,  about  the  latitude  of  the  Shetlands,  by  an  im- 
penetrable black  mollusc. 

We  have  noticed  that  the  ancient  trade  routes  continue 
far  into  the  Middle  Ages,  with  only  a change  of  masters. 
Between  Constantine  and  Justinian  there  is  nothing  that 
calls  for  notice  in  the  Roman,  or  Western,  or  Christian 
commerce  on  these  lines,  except  a decreasing  activity,  a 
lowered  scale  of  demand,3  if  not  of  supply,  and  an  enfeebled 
control.  The  reverence  of  the  outside  world  for  Rome, 
which  outlasted  the  third  century  with  all  its  terrible 
revelations  of  weakness  and  anarchy  ; which  led  the  Chinese, 
as  Vopiscus  boasts,  to  look  upon  Aurelian  as  almost  divine; 
which  brought  embassies  from  India  and  Ethiopia  to  the 
court  of  Constantine ; and  made  the  ruler  of  Ceylon  anxious 
for  the  friendship  of  Julian, — had  dwindled  to  a shadow  of 
its  former  self  in  the  dismal  time  that  witnessed  the  break- 
up of  the  Western  Empire.4  But  in  the  sixth  century  two 


1 Followed  by  Marinus  and  Pto- 
lemy with  rather  less  success. 

2 Pytheas. 

3 In  the  time  of  Pliny,  the  Roman 
world  spent  one  hundred  million 
sesterces  a year  in  the  Asiatic  trade 

(H.  N.  vi.  26,  xii.  41) ; the  Christen- 


dom of  Charlemagne  probably  not  a 
tenth  of  this  sum,  even  including 
Byzantine  commerce. 

4  SeeVospicus,  “Aurelian,”  ch.  41 ; 
Eusebius,  “Life  of  Constantine,”  iv., 
chs.  7,  50 ; Ammianus  Marcellinus, 
xxii.  7.  The  portraits  and  busts  of 


184  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

important  attempts  were  made  towards  new  developments  of 
trade  by  changing  the  old  mercantile  routes  from  the  Levant 
to  Further  Asia,  or  rather  by  bringing  into  a place  of 
primary  value  certain  ways  which  before  had  only  held  a 
secondary  place.  Further,  in  this  same  time,  during  the 
last  revival  of  an  Empire  which  could  still  be  called  Roman, 
a valuable  industry  was  introduced  into  Christendom ; and 
several  merchant  travellers  of  unusual  experience  journeyed 
and  wrote  (or  told)  their  story.  In  other  words,  the  Byzan- 
tine rulers  tried  to  divert  the  overland  commerce  of  the  far 
East  from  its  regular  course  through  Persia, — first  by  the 
help  of  Abyssinian  middlemen ; and,  secondly,  by  an  alliance 
with  the  Turks  and  Sogdians  beyond  the  Oxus.  Both  these 
attempts  arose  out  of  the  question  of  the  silk  traffic.  The 
monopoly  of  the  carrying  trade  for  this  product  had  long 
been  in  Persian  hands  ; but  now  the  Mediterranean  receivers, 
dissatisfied  with  their  intermediaries,  tried  to  open  a more 
direct  traffic  with  the  original  makers  and  vendors. 

Christian  Abyssinia,  or  “ ^Ethiopia,”  Justinian  hoped,  in 
alliance  with  its  Christian  sub-kingdom  in  Yemen,  with  the 
Nestorians  of  Persia,  and  with  the  Church  of  St.  Thomas  in 
Malabar,  might  open  anew  for  the  main  branch  of  Eastern 
commerce  a route  long  followed  by  a certain  number  of 


Constantine,  according  to  Eusebius, 
were  taken  back  by  the  Indian 
deputies  to  their  own  country,  and 
there  honoured  as  likenesses  of 
“ their  Master  and  their  Lord.”  The 
rhetorical  verses  of  Claudian — 

(“ . . . Totam  pater  undique  secum 
Moverat  Auroram,  ...”  etc.) ; 
the  equally  rhetorical  prose  of  the 
Orator  Pacatus  (a.d.  389),  which 
describes  Medians,  Sacse,  Indians, 
and  other  Eastern  peoples,  as  the 
subjects  or  allies  of  the  Great  Theo- 


dosius, are  obvious  extravagances 
(see  Panegyrici  Veteres,  ii.  316). 
Precisely  similar  bombast  is  talked 
by  Avitus  of  Vienne,  in  a.d.  516, 
in  reference  to  the  Emperor  Anas- 
tasius,  to  whom  Parthian  and  Indian 
must  alike  submit.  See  Reinaud, 
“ Relations  de  l’Empire  Romain  avec 
l’Asie  Orientale,  ” pp.  280-284. 
Still  more  extravagant  are  the  terms 
in  which  Sidonius  Apollinaris 
addresses  Majorian  at  Lyon,  in  458, 
and  Anthemius  at  Rome,  in  468. 


V.] 


REVIVED  ENTERPRISE  UNDER  JUSTINIAN.  185 


traders.  This  diversion,  if  successful,  would  have  involved 
a considerable  increase  of  maritime  activity;  for  it  made 
necessary  a long-  sea  voyage  from  Scinde  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Persian  Gulf  (the  course  of  Nearchus),  before  sailors 
could  bring  their  wares  to  South-west  Arabia,  and  through 
the  straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb  to  Adulis  and  Axum,  or  to 
Suez  and  Elath.1  It  is  curious  to  notice  the  possibilities 
opened  to  Western  enterprise  by  this  far-reaching  Christian 
alliance,  which  sanctified  the  delights  of  monetary  gain  by 
its  apparent  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith.  Had  it 
succeeded,  it  might,  for  one  thing,  have  given  a new  impulse 
to  discovery.  It  might  have  developed  a powerful  Christian 
State  in  the  South.  And  in  particular,  by  strengthening 
Christianity  on  the  east  of  the  Red  Sea,  it  might  have 
rendered  impossible  the  rise  of  Islam.  The  decisive  advan- 
tage in  world-commerce  which  the  Christian  allies  might 
have  gained  would  have  certainly  carried  with  it  an  advan- 
tage— possibly  decisive,  possibly  illusory — in  political  power 
as  well.  As  it  was,  the  Christian  kingdom  of  Yemen  came 
near  to  conquering  Mecca  and  the  holy  land  of  Arabia  in 
Mohammed’s  infancy.  The  defeat  of  Abrahah’s  army  by 
the  Koreish  in  the  battle  of  the  Elephant  was  a turning- 
point  in  the  history  of  Southern  Europe,  of  Western  Asia, 
of  Northern  Africa  ; by  it  the  field  was  cleared  for  the  birth 
and  the  rearing  of  a giant  whose  strength  would  one  day  be 
felt.  But  how  small  a force  might  have  turned  the  scale  in 
570.  And,  before  Mohammed,  where  was  the  unity,  the 
fiery  alacrity,  the  mission  of  the  Arabian  people  ? Without 
the  bond  and  the  inspiration  of  their  common  faith,  they 
were  as  sheep  without  a shepherd.  It  was  in  the  light  of 

1 Of.  Tlieoplianes,  i.  218,  who 
mentions  a Roman  Customs-station 
near  the  Isle  of  Jotaba  (Tiran),  in 
the  Red  Sea,  for  the  Suez  goods ; cf. 


also  Procopius,  De  Bell.  Pers.  i.  19  ; 
Anecdota,  p.  564 ; and  Heyd,  Com- 
merce du  Levant,  i.  10. 


180 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


religion  that  they  saw,  as  a revelation,  their  power  and 
their  right,  to  combine,  to  conquer,  to  govern,  and  to  civilise. 

But  Justinian  found  the  Abyssinians  lacking  in  the 
enterprise  and  persistence  necessary  to  oust  the  Persians 
from  the  marts  of  this  “ Erythrean  ” route,  and  thus  his 
plan  collapsed  with  the  failure  of  its  initial  step.  The 
alternative,  of  a northern  detour,  analogous  to  the  north-east 
passage  of  later  days  (as  the  southern  digression  suggests 
the  Portuguese  curve  round  Africa  to  reach  the  Indian 
coasts),  was  equally  futile  in  the  long  run,  but  for  a time  it 
seemed  to  promise  better  results.  The  way  was  opened  by 
a quarrel  that  broke  out  between  Touran  and  Iran,  between 
the  Persians  of  Chosroes  Nushirvan  and  the  Turks  beyond 
the  Oxus.  These  last,  by  their  conquest  of  Sogdiana,  in  the 
middle  of  the  sixth  century,  now  controlled  the  western 
avenue  of  the  trade  of  Central  and  Further  Asia ; but  the 
Persian  king,  fearing  that  their  warriors  would  infallibly 
attend  their  caravans,  refused  admittance  for  all  alike  on 
the  Oxus  border.  Accordingly,  in  568,  a Turkish  embassy 
arrived  at  the  court  of  Justin  II.  (Justinian’s  successor) 
“ to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the  Romans,  and  transfer  the 
sale  of  silk  to  them.”  The  alliance  was  eagerly  accepted  ; 1 
and,  in  August  of  the  same  year,  Zemarchus  the  Cilician, 
“prefect  of  the  cities  of  the  East,”  left  Byzantium  for 
Samarcand,  by  way  of  Kertch  and  the  plains  of  Astrakhan. 

The  embassy  was  under  the  guidance  of  Maniach,  “ Chief 
of  the  people  of  Sogdiana,”  who  had  first  suggested  to  Dizabulr 
the  Turkish  khan,  this  Roman  alliance,  and  had  himself 
come  to  Byzantium  to  negotiate  the  same.  On  crossing  the 
frontiers  of  Sogdiana  the  travellers  were  solemnly  exorcised  ; 
Zemarchus  was  made  to  pass  through  the  fire ; and  strange 

1 Cf.  Procopius,  De  Bell.  Pers.  i.  I Menander  excerpt,  p.  295, 397 ; Theo- 
19, 20,  etc., on  the  Southern  Venture;  | phan.  p.  484,  etc.,  on  the  Northern. 


V.] 


THE  TURKISH  ALLIANCE  : ZEMAECHUS. 


187 


ceremonies  were  performed  over  the  baggage  of  the  ex- 
pedition— certain  “ Turks  ringing  a bell  and  beating  a drum 
over  this ; while  others  ran  round  it  carrying  leaves  of  incense 
flaming  and  crackling,  raging  like  mad  men,  and  gesticulating 
as  if  they  were  repelling  evil  spirits.”  After  these  pre- 
cautions the  Roman  envoys  arrived  in  the  camp  of  Dizabul, 
“in  a hollow  encompassed  by  the  Golden1  Mountain,” — 
apparently  somewhere  in  the  district  of  the  Seven  Rivers, 
near  Lake  Iyssk-Kul,  to  the  west  of  Tengri  Khan.  They 
found  him  in  his  tent,  seated  on  a golden  chair,  and  sur- 
rounded with  rich  hangings  of  silk;  another  of  his  gilded 
thrones  rested  on  four  golden  peacocks,  a precursor  of  the 
peacock  throne  of  the  great  Mogul  at  Delhi.  His  gold  and 
silver  plate,  his  clothing  of  flowered  silk,  the  drinking  powers 
of  himself  and  his  court,  astonished  the  ambassadors, — 
who  accompanied  Dizabul  soon  afterwards  in  an  attack  upon 
Persia.  On  the  march  the  Romans  passed  through  Talas 
or  Turkestan  on  the  north  side  of  the  Jaxartes,  the  very 
country  where  Hiouen-Thsang,  on  his  way  from  China  to 
India,  sixty  years  later,  met  with  Dizabul’s  successor.  Zemar- 
chus  was  present  at  a banquet  in  Talas,  where  the  Turkish 
chief,  forgetting  his  politeness  in  his  cups,  insulted  and 
reviled  the  Persian  envoy  who  had  come  to  stay  his  hand  ; 
but  the  Byzantine  does  not  seem  to  have  actually  gone  into 
battle  with  his  ally.  Near  the  river  Oech  (Jaxartes?),  he 
was  sent  back  to  Byzantium  with  all  honour,  accompanied  by 
a Turkish  embassy.  Halting  by  the  “huge,  wide  lagoon” 


1 Aktag,  or  Ektag,  i.e.  the  “ White 
Mount,”  mistranslated  “ Golden  ” by 
Menander.  The  Golden  Mountain 
of  the  Mongols,  in  later  time,  was  the 
Altai,  and  this  may  be  meant  here, 
but  it  seems  rather  too  distant,  and 
does  not  quite  suit  the  narrative. 
See  the  fragments  of  Menander  Pro- 


tector in  Muller,  Fragment.  His- 
tor.  Grsec.,  iv.  p.  235;  De  Guignes 
“Huns,”  i.  226,  227;  ii.  380-395,  463! 
Also  see  Theophylact  Simocatta, 
vii.  8.  Hugues  (“II  Lago  d’Aral,” 
1874)  thinks  Dizabul’s  camp  was  near 
Khokand. 


188 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


of  the  Sea  of  Aral,1  Zemarchus  sent  off  an  express,  under  a 
lieutenant  named  George,  to  announce  to  the  emperor  “ the 
return  of  the  party  from  the  Turks.”  George  hurried  on  by 
a route  which  was  “ without  water  and  altogether  desert,  but 
was  the  shortest  way,”  apparently  across  the  steppes  to  the 
north  of  the  Caspian  and  Euxine  ; and  his  superior,  following 
more  slowly,  marched  twelve  days  by  the  sandy  shores  of 
the  Aral  Sea;  crossed  the  Emba,  the  Ural,  the  Volga,  and 
the  Caucasus ; and,  triumphantly  eluding  the  Persians  who 
tried  to  stop  him  on  the  Kuban,  made  his  way  in  safety  to 
Trebizond  and  Constantinople.  For  some  twelve  years,  this 
north  Caspian  track  seems  to  have  been  followed,  while 
the  Turkish  alliance  subsisted;  and,  about  580,  another 
embassy  was  despatched  by  the  Emperor  Tiberius  II. 
under  one  Valentine,  to  Tardu  Khan,  the  Tateu  of  the 
Chinese.2 

But  at  last,  in  the  reign  of  the  same  Tiberius  (II.), 
dissensions 3 4 broke  out ; the  Turks  attacked  and  took 
Kherson:  and  when  the  Turkish  dominion  itself  fell  to 
pieces,  early  in  the  seventh  century,  the  people  of  Bokhara 


1 So  Hugues,  “ Lake  of  Aral,”  pp. 
21,  etc.  (1874).  Yule,  “Cathay,” 

prelim,  essay  (suppl.  note  viii.) ; 
Vivien  de  St.  Martin,  “ Histoire  de  la 

Geographie,  etc.”  (p.  235) ; Peschel, 

4‘  Geschichte  der  Erdkunde,”  pp. 
92,  93 ; Marinelli  (Neumann),  “Die 
Erdkunde  bei  den  Kirchen  Vatern,” 
pp.  6-8; — all  treat  of  Zemarchus’ 
route  and  agree  on  the  main  points, 
as  given  in  text.  After  passing 
along  the  Aral  Sea,  he  crossed  (1) 
the  Ich  = the  Emba,  flowing  into 
the  Caspian  at  north-east  corner; 
(2)  the  Daich  = the  Ural,  called 
rerjx  by  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus 
in  the  tenth  century,  (De  Adm. 
Imperii,  ch.  37) ; (3)  the  Attila,  Athil,  I 


or  Volga;  (4)  the  Land  of  the  Ugurs, 
where  he  was  warned  of  4,000  Persian 
enemies  lying  in  wait  for  him  near 
the  river  Kophen,  or  Kuban  (?),  which 
flows  into  the  Sea  of  Azov  near  the 
Gulf  of  Kertch. 

2 Menander  Protector  (another 
fragment,  in  Bonn  edit.,  1835)  and 
De  Guignes,  as  last  cited. 

One  might  have  expected  that 
these  repeated  journeys  to  the  north 
of  the  Caspian  might  have  done 
something  to  break  down  the  time- 
honoured  superstition  of  this  Water 
as  an  inlet  of  the  Northern  Ocean, 
but  they  seem  to  have  had  no  effect 
on  the  Latin  world. 

3 From  a.d.  579. 


V.] 


THE  IMPORTATION  OF  SILK. 


189 


and  Samarcand  resumed  the  old  Persian  route,  which  had 
only  been  closed  on  account  of  their  Tartar  lords. 

But  in  the  lifetime  of  Justinian  these  failures  to  divert 
the  trade  routes  were  compensated  for  by  the  introduction 
of  a new  culture,  which  might  in  its  turn  make  the  Mediter- 
ranean lands  the  starting-point  of  an  independent  line  of 
commerce.  The  secret  of  silk  manufacture-  was  brought 
either  from  China  or  from  the  halfway  station  of  Sogdiana, 
by  two  Persian  monks,  in  the  interests  of  their  religion 
rather  than  of  their  Government,  in  552.1 

About  this  time,  as  we  may  gather  from  Procopius, 
these  monks  arrived — “ from  India  ; and,  learning  that  the 
emperor  had  it  much  at  heart  that  the  Romans  should  no 
longer  buy  silk  from  the  Persians,  promised  to  manage  so 
that  Romans  should  not  have  to  purchase  the  article  from 
Persians  or  any  others.”  They  explained  to  Justinian  that 
silk  was  not  combed  from  trees  (as  Virgil  and  nearly  all 
Westerns,  except  Pausanias,2  had  supposed),  but  that  it  was 
spun  by  a caterpillar,  whose  eggs  might  be  transported,  and 
whose  habitat  might  thus  be  changed.  With  this  purpose, 
they  now  journeyed  to  Khotan,  if  not  to  China;3  and  returned 
with  the  eggs  stored  in  a hollow  cane,  and  mulberry  leaves 
to  feed  the  worms  when  hatched.  The  folly  of  the  Govern- 
ment, which  tried  to  enforce  a State  monopoly  in  the 
manufacture  of  silk,  hampered  the  progress  of  the  new 
industry  in  the  West,  and  helped  to  keep  Christendom  in 
dependence  on  outside  products.  More  than  that,  it  drove 


1 Procop.  De  Bell.  Goth.  iv.  17. 
Theoph.  excerpt,  p.  484  (Bonn  edit.) ; 
also  cf.  Prelim.  Essay  in  Yule’s 
Cathay ; Gibbon,  ch.  xl. 

2 Paus.  vi.  26  (see  Zonaras  Annal. 
xiv.). 

3 Theophanes  says  the  “ land  of 


the  Seres,”  which  is  almost  certainly 
one  or  the  other  in  his  pages ; Pro- 
copius, more  loosely,  “ India.”  But, 
as  we  shall  see  in  other  connections, 
some  part  of  Further  India  is  con- 
stantly in  the  mind  of  Western 
writers  when  they  speak  of  “ Serica.” 


190 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Oh. 


many  nimble-fingered  artisans  to  emigrate  into  Persia  ; and 
so,  by  the  time  of  Heraclius,  the  last  state  of  the  Empire  (in 
commerce  as  in  many  other  things)  was  worse  than  the  first, 
a century  earlier,  when  the  imperial  restoration  began,  and 
before  Justinian’s  experiment  had  been  tried  and  finally 
found  wanting. 

It  was  possibly,  though  by  no  means  certainly,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Southern  or  Abyssinian  enterprise  already 
noticed  that  Cosmas  and  Sopater  travelled  to  Ceylon  about 
this  time.  These  two  merchant-travellers  are  perhaps  the 
most  distinct  figures  in  the  story  of  the  commercial  enter- 
prise of  their  day ; for  the  Persian  monks  who  brought  the 
silk-worms’  eggs  are  nameless,  and  Zemarchus  is  a rather 
shadowy  figure.  Ceylon,  the  Taprobana  of  the  Greek 
mariners  and  of  Ptolemy,  the  Sielediva  of  the  natives,  was 
then,  as  in  other  times,  a great  meeting-place  of  trade.  It 
had  been  visited  by  sailors  of  the  Red  Sea  ports,  and 
apparently  brought  into  connection  with  the  Mediterranean 
world,  in  the  time  of  Claudius;  its  king,  three  centuries 
after,  took  pains  to  send  an  embassy  (for  commercial  alliance) 
to  the  Emperor  Julian ; still  later,  probably  in  the  fifth 
century,  an  Egyptian  or  Coptic  Christian,  named  Scholas- 
ticus,  voyaged  both  to  Malabar  and  to  Ceylon,  where  he  fell 
under  suspicion  as  a spy,  and  was  kept  in  prison  for  six 
years ; for  the  “ Roman  name  ” had  now  lost  its  old 
prestige  in  the  Far  East  and  South,  and  pelf  and  power 
alike  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  Abyssinians  and  Persians.1 
In  days  of  Chinese  activity,2  such  as  the  years  just  before 


1 See  Pliny,  H.  N.  vi.  24 ; Ammi- 
anus  Marcellinus,  xxii.  7 ; Emerson 

Tennent’s  “Ceylon,”  i.  532;  Palla- 
dius,  in  the  work  “ De  Gentibus 
Indiae  et  Bragmanibus  ” (London, 
1665),  pp.  3, ,59,  etc.;  Letronne,  Re- 
cueil  de  l’Acad.  des  Insc.  x.  223,  and 


Reinaud,  “ Relations  de  l’Empire 
Romain  avec  l’Asie  Orientale,”  pp. 
217,  292,  etc. 

2 Under  the  Han  and  Thang  dy- 
nasties. Fa  - Hien  travelled  there 
(399-414).  Cf.  Heyd,  i.  §§  1,  2,  pp. 
3,  6,  8,  9,  28,  33. 


v.] 


SOPATER  IN  CEYLON. 


191 


and  just  after  the  birth  of  Christ,  or  the  time  of  the 
undivided  Caliphate  (c.  650-750),  the  junks  of  the  Yellow 
Sea  came  regularly  to  the  island.  Fa-Hien  had  visited  it,  in 
search  of  the  Buddhist  books  of  discipline,  at  the  epoch  of 
Alaric’s  capture  of  Rome  (c.  410).  In  the  eighth  century 
it  became  a central  market  of  Arab  or  Moslem  traffic : now 
Rome  and  Persia  are  found  competing  for  supremacy  in  its 
harbours. 

Sopater  is  only  known  to  us  from  Cosmas’  mention  of 
him.  He  was,  we  are  told,  a Roman  merchant  who  was 
engaged  in  trade  betweeh  Ceylon  and  the  Red  Sea  during 
the  early  years  of  the  sixth  century.  Sailing  once  in  an 
Abyssinian  ship  from  Adule,  he  found  himself  challenged  1 
before  the  native  ruler  of  Ceylon  by  a Persian  rival,  who 
declared  his  sovereign  to  be  the  most  powerful  on  earth. 
“ Produce  your  king,”  said  Sopater,  at  last  breaking  silence. 
“ You  have  in  your  hands,”  he  continued,  addressing  the 
Indian  prince,  “ the  coins  of  both  sovereigns.  Compare 
them.”  The  gold  byzant  of  the  Roman  was  put  alongside 
the  silver  dirhem  2 of  his  enemy,  and  the  first  easily  won. 

From  Sopater,  it  has  been  conjectured,  Cosmas  derived 
all  his  knowledge  of  Ceylon ; and  although  this  is  unlikely, . 
he  is  at  any  rate  an  interesting  witness  to  the  commercial 


1 This  was  “thirty-five  years,  at 
least,”  before  Cosmas  wrote  his 
eleventh  book  in  c.  545  ? (i.e.  = 
c.  510).  Sopater  had  been  dead  all 
this  time,  according  to  Cosmas. 
Possibly  Cosmas  is  inaccurate,  or  our 
information  misleading.  Sopater  pro- 
bably travelled  after  Justinian’s  ac- 
cession (527).  Cf.  Cosmas,  xi.  (Montf. 
pp.  331-339) ; Vincent,  “ Erythraean 
Sea,”  ii.  506,  510. 

2 (1)  Nomisma;  (2)  Miliaresion. 
The  Nomisma  was  doubtless  the 


aureus  coined  by  Constantine,  of 
which  seventy-two  went  to  the 
pound  of  gold.  The  Miliaresion 
was  probably  the  drachm,  of  which 
twenty  went  to  the  Daric.  Cf.  the 
Periplus  of  the  Erythraean  Sea,  § 42, 
etc. ; Pliny,  “ Natural  History,”  vi. 
24.  The  whole  story  has  a suspicious 
likeness  to  the  similar  one  in  Pliny 
( loc . cit.')  about  the  Cinghalese 
envoys  to  Claudius  and  their  admira- 
tion of  Roman  denarii. 


192 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


struggle  of  the  time,  and  to  the  importance  of  the  Abyssinian 
alliance  for  the  Christian  world  of  the  Mediterranean. 

But  Cosmas  himself  is,  of  course,  the  principal  character 
among  the  traders,  as  he  is  among  the  geographers  or  theo- 
rists of  Justinian’s  Age.  Here  we  are  only  concerned  with 
his  practical  and  far  more  satisfactory  work.  Scattered  up  and 
down  through  the  “ continent  of  mud  ” which  his  ingenious 
orthodoxy  spread  oyer  the  true  face  of  the  earth,  there  are, 
as  we  have  suggested  before,  a few  pieces  of  solid  ground. 
In  other  words,  we  get  some  useful  notices  of  Eastern  Africa, 
of  Hither,  or  even  of  Further  India,  and  some  insight  into 
the  south-coast  trade  route,  from  various  passages  in  that 
ever-memorable  “Christian  Topography,”  which  tried  to- 
work  out  a scheme  of  the  visible  world  from  the  teachings 
of  the  invisible  contained  in  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
Scriptures. 

As  to  the  extent  of  his  travels,  he  tells  us  expressly  that 
he  sailed  upon  the  Mediterranean  and  upon  the  “ Arabian  ” 
and  Persian  gulfs ; but  he  makes  the  Caspian  flow  into  the* 
Arctic  Sea;  and  as  to  the  ocean,  he  is  ignorant.1  He 
declares,  indeed,  that  this  cannot  be  navigated,  from  the 
currents  and  fogs  here  met  with,  as  well  as  from  its  illimit- 
able area.2  But  he  refers  to  the  Christianity  of  Ceylon  and 


1 Top.  Ch.  ii.  p.  132  (Montf.). 

2 Cf.  his  account  of  how,  while  sail- 
ing on  the  Red  Sea,  towards  the  land 
of  Zinj  (beyond  Guardafui),  he  and 
the  whole  crew  were  terrified  by  a 
current  setting  in  from  the  ocean, 
and  threatening  to  sweep  them  out  of 
the  narrow  sea  (ii.  p.  132-3 ; Montf.). 
The  Zinj  or  Zanzibar]  of  Cosmas  in- 
cluded the  whole  east  coast  of  Africa 
beyond  the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb. 
We  may  notice  that  Cosmas,  like  the 
“ Periplus  of  the  Erythraean  Sea,” 


makes  Cape  Aromata  or  Guardafui  the 
end  of  “ Barbaria ; ” while  Ptolemy, 
on  the  other  hand,  prolongs  Barbary 
from  here  to  Rhapta  and  Cape 
Prasum  (Zanzibar  Islands?),  i.  17; 
iv.  7.  With  Cosmas’  account  of  the 
gold  trade  on  this  coast,  as  quoted 
below  (pp.  194-196),  we  may  compare 
Cadamosto’s  description  of  a similar 
barter-traffic  in  North-West  Africa, 
at  the  time  of  his  voyages  in  the 
service  of  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal, 
a.d.  1455,  etc. 


V.] 


COSMAS  AS  A MERCHANT-TRAVELLER. 


193 


of  Malabar  as  if  among  the  things  he  had  himself  inspected ; 
he  tells  ns  how  he  sailed  by  Socotra,1  though  he  did  not 
land  there ; he  describes  the  buffalo  of  India  and  even  the 
yak  of  the  upland;  he  correctly  traces  the  main  lines  of 
the  voyage  to  Further  India,2  and  gives  the  position  of  the 
country  with  striking  accuracy,  “ on  the  extreme  east  coast 
of  Asia,  compassed  by  the  ocean,” — a far  better  account  than 
Ptolemy’s.  Further,  he  is  minutely  observant  of  the 
wonders  of  “Ethiopia,”  or  the  Abyssinian  country — both 
beasts,  palaces,  and  ancient  remains ; and  his  description  of 
Ceylon  is  too  detailed  and  lively  for  a second-hand  account.3 
The  island,  he  rightly  says,  might  be  considered  to  occupy 
a sort  of  central  position  between  India,  Persia,  Ethiopia 
and  “Tzinista”  (Cochin-China?),  on  the  side  of  the  sea; 
and  so  ships  came  to  it  from  all  these  parts.  But  the 
overland  route  was  a much  nearer  way  from  Persia  to  the 
extremities  of  Asia  than  the  maritime ; and  especially  in 
going  to  Tzinista,  it  could  hardly  be  believed  from  an 


1 Top.  Ch.  iii.  178  (Montf.). 

2 E.g.  a ship  sailing  to  the  Tzini- 
sts0,  he  says,  is  obliged,  after  going 
■east  for  a long  way,  to  turn  north, 
at  least  as  far  as  a ship  bound  for 
Chaldaea  would  have  to  run  up  the 
Persian  gulf  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Euphrates.  But  his  “Tzinista,”  in 
which  Col.  Yule  insists  on  recog- 
nizing the  name  of  China,  is  probably 
only  a dim  notion  of  Malaya  or 
Cochin-China ; the  northern  bend  he 
describes  is  probably  that  of  the  Gulf 
-of  Siam ; and  this  shadowy  account 
does  not  at  all  anticipate  the  real 
discovery  of  these  regions,  for  Europe, 
by  Marco  Polo,  or,  for  the  Caliphate, 
by  the  Arabs. 

3 E.g.  in  his  statements  — (1) 
that  it  lies  on  the  “ other  side  ” of 


the  pepper  country  of  Malabar ; (2) 
that  it  has  many  small  islands  with 
cocoanuts  near  it — apparently  the 
Maldives,  though  somewhat  loosely 
placed ; (3)  that  measures  of  length 
in  Taprobane  are  reckoned  in 
“gaudia” — “gaou”  is  still  in  use, 
viz.  “ an  hour’s  walking-distance ; ” 
(4)  that  hyacinths  or  rubies  are  found 
in  it;  (5)  that  it  has  a church  of 
Persian  Christians  (Nestorians) ; (6) 
that  one  of  the  native  temples  has  a 
famous  ruby  (“  hyacinth  ”)  as  big  as  a 
pine  cone — apparently  the  same  that 
Hiouen-Tthsang  saw  on  the  Buddha 
Tooth  Temple  near  Anurajapura,  c. 
a.d.  630 ; (7)  that  Taprobane  exports 
to  Malabar,  Sindu  on  the  Indus, 
Persia,  Yemen,  and  the  Red  Sea. 
(Bk.  xi.  pp.  336-340,  Montf.) 

0 


194  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

experience  of  the  coasting*  voyage  how  much  more  expe- 
ditious the  caravan  route  would  be  found.  Nothing  could 
be  truer,  in  view  of  the  commerce  and  shipping  of  that 
time ; and  it  was  only  the  dilemma  of  Persian  dues,  or  no 
imports,  that  had  set  the  emperor  and  his  people  upon  a 
trial  of  the  roundabout  ocean  way. 

Of  the  country  between  Ceylon  and  Tzinista,  Cosmas 
disclaims  any  knowledge,  except  that  cloves  were  grown 
there  ; and  it  would  be  extravagant  to  suppose  that  he  ever 
crossed  the  bay  of  Bengal  or  worked  his  passage  through 
the  Straits  of  Malacca.  From  his  terror  of  the  open  sea, 
it  may  also  be  conjectured  that  most  traders  had  now,  for 
a time  at  least,  forgotten  or  disused  other  than  coasting 
voyages.  Hippalus’  discovery  (c.  a.d.  120)  of  the  use  of  the 
monsoon  in  wafting  sailors  from  Africa  to  India  and  back 
again,  was  to  wait  perhaps  for  the  Arabs  to  revive  it  in 
general  use : but,  even  as  a shore-traffic,  and  less  important 
than  the  Persian  caravan  trade,  the  Erythrean  commerce  was 
respectable  in  these  last  days  of  its  Roman  time ; and  the 
Indian  ships  that  Antoninus  Martyr1  and  other  pilgrims  saw 
in  the  gulfs  of  Suez  and  Akabah,  might  have  never  ceased 
bringing  their  freight  direct  to  Christian  lands  if  it  had  not 
been  for  Islam  and  the  Arabs. 

Lastly,  from  the  equatorial  or  “incense”  coasts  of 
Africa,  condiments  and  spices  were  exported  in  great  quan- 
tities. So  Cosmas  tells  us,  in  a remarkable  passage2  that 
has  in  it  something  of  the  flavour  of  personal  experience. 
The  trade  went  by  sea;  and  the  products  were  taken  to 
Adulis  or  Adule  in  Abyssinia,  to  the  Homerites  of  Yemen 
in  Arabia,  to  Persia,  and  to  India.  But  besides  spices,  he 
adds,  this  land  of  Barbary  (bordering  on  the  Ocean  of  the 
Blacks  or  Zanj,  as  they  call  themselves)  brings  forth  gold 
1 Ant.  M.  c.  41,  etc.  2 Top.  Christ,  bk.  ii.  pp.  138,  139,  Montf. 


V.] 


COSMAS  IN  EAST  AFRICA. 


195 


in  abundance,  and  year  by  year  the  King  of  Axum 
(in  Abyssinia)  sends  merchants  to  procure  wbat  they  can 
of  it. 

Their  business  was  performed  by  an  extraordinary  method 
of  barter — on  a principle  exactly  similar  to  what  we  find 
recorded  as  in  vogue  among  the  natives  of  the  West  Sahara 
and  Soudan,  after  the  lapse  of  a thousand  years.  The  gold 
caravan,  says  Cosmas,  is  usually  made  up  of  about  five  hun- 
dred traders.  With  them  they  take  a good  quantity  of  cattle, 
salt,  and  iron.  And  when  they  are  close  to  the  gold  land, 
they  rest  awhile,  and  make  a great  thorn  hedge.  Then  they 
kill  the  cattle,  cut  them  up,  and  spit  their  joints  upon  the 
thorns,  while  they  put  out  the  salt  and  iron  at  the  foot  of 
the  hedge.  This  done,  they  retire  to  a certain  distance.  Now 
come  up  the  natives  with  their  gold,  in  little  lumps ; and 
each  places  what  he  thinks  sufficient  above  the  beef,  the 
salt,  or  the  iron  which  he  fancies.  Then  they,  too,  go  away. 
Next  return  the  merchants,  and  inspect  the  price  offered 
for  their  goods.  If  content,  they  take  away  the  gold  and 
leave  the  flesh,  salt,  or  iron  thus  paid  for.  If  not  content, 
they  leave  both  gold  and  other  things  together,  and  again 
retire.  A second  visit  is  then  paid  by  the  blacks ; and  either 
more  gold  is  added,  or  it  is  removed  altogether,  according  as 
the  purchaser  thinks  worth  while. 

“And  thus,”  exclaims  the  traveller,  “ do  they  get  over  the 
difference  of  language  and  the  want  of  interpreters.”  The 
caravans  generally  stayed  about  five  days ; and  their  chief 
danger  was  on  returning,  when,  armed  to  the  teeth,  and 
. loaded  with  gold,  they  hurried  back,  in  daily  fear  of  robbery 
and  murder.  The  whole  journey  was  finished  within  six 
months;  and  most  of  this  time  was  consumed  on  the  way 
out,  as  the  cattle  moved  but  slowly,  and  on  the  homeward 
route  haste  was  the  only  safety.  “ And  so  distant  is  that 


196 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


land,  that  the  founts  of  the  Nile  1 are  near  to  it ; and  in 
winter  the  traders  are  often  stopped  by  floods.  But  what  is 
winter  on  that  coast  is  summer  with  us.”  2 

Ethiopia,  we  have  said,  plays  an  important  part  in 
Cosmas’  record  of  travel ; and  by  this  name  he  generally 
designates  the  whole  of  Eastern  Africa  from  Egypt  to  the 
Equator  ; but  a narrower  use  of  the  same  term  is  to  be  found 
in  his  pages,  answering  to  the  kingdom  of  Meroe  or 
Khartoum,  between  the  Abyssinian  Mountains  to  the  east 
and  the  Libyan  Desert  to  the  west.  Here,  in  very  early 
times,  had  probably  settled  a colony  from  South-West 
Arabia ; here  Christian  missionaries  had  now  penetrated ; 
and  here,  as  in  Abyssinia  itself,  Justinian  was  now  look- 
ing for  allies.  From  the  Blemmyes  of  Ethiopia  the  Axu- 
mite  traders  of  Cosmas’  day  obtained  emeralds,  which 
they  shipped  from  Adule  for  the  Indian  and  “ Boman  ” 
markets. 

So  much  for  the  early  Byzantine  trade.  The  independent 
commerce  of  Western  Europe  in  this  age  is  far  more  difficult 
to  follow.  In  most  countries,  now  overrun  by  the  Teutonic 
herdsman  and  hunter-warriors,  trade  with  distant  lands  was 
almost  extinct ; and  we  get  nothing  more  to  guide  us  than 
occasional  entries  in  such  writers  as  Gregory  of  Tours,  who 
tells  us  now  and  then  (for  instance)  of  merchants  going 
to  the  Levant  from  “France.”3  From  some  of  these  he 
must  have  gathered  his  information  about  Egypt ; about 
the  Nile  running  through  the  country ; about  “ the  Babylon 


1 J.e.the  Blue  or  Abyssinian  Nile, 

whose  sources  near  Geesh  were  re- 
discovered in  modern  times:  (1)  by 

Portuguese  travellers  of  the  sixteenth 
century ; (2)  by  Jesuit  missionaries 
of  later  time ; (3)  by  Bruce,  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


* “Torrents  of  rain,”  adds  Cosmas, 
“ here  fall  for  three  months  together, 
and  make  a number  of  rivers,  which 
all  flow  into  the  Nile.” 

3 Cf.  Hist.  Franc,  i.  10.  Gregory 
of  Tours’  life  was  from  538  to  595. 


v.] 


LATIN  TRADE,  A.D.  300-600. 


197 


in  which  Joseph  built  his  barns  ” on  the  banks  of  the  river ; 
about  the  arm  of  the  Red  Sea“  projecting  towards  the  east,” 
and  Clysma  or  Suez  at  the  end  of  it ; and  about  the  Indian 
ships  that  came  there,  “for  the  sake  of  the  merchandise 
that,  from  this  point,  is  dispersed  throughout  all  Egypt.” 
Jerome  and  Salvian,  indeed,  speak  of  men  from  the 
Latin  provinces  coming  to  seek  their  fortune  in  Syria  and 
Egypt ; but,  on  the  whole,  it  seems  probable  that  after  this 
time — the  earlier  fifth  century — there  was  a far  greater 
influx  of  trade  and  traders  from  the  Eastern  Mediterranean 
into  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Italy  than  could  be  maintained  in  the 
opposite  direction.  Under  the  Merovingians,  Syrian  trade- 
colonies,  for  example, were  established  in  Narbonne,  Bordeaux, 
Orleans,  and  Tours ; the  wine  of  Gaza,  the  papyrus  of  Egypt, 
were  brought  to  Marseilles,  even  in  the  sixth  century.  In 
the  commercial  stagnation  of  the  Latin  world,  Marseilles 
indeed  retained  some  movement,  on  the  edge,  as  it  were,  of 
the  current ; and  it  seems,  at  the  darkest  times,  to  have  kept 
up  a certain  trade  with  Byzantium  and  the  Levantine  coasts.1 
The  mariners  of  the  Venetian  lagunes  were  also  winning 
a name  as  skilful  seamen,  but  as  to  the  details,  objects,  or 
extent  of  their  voyages  we  do  not  as  yet  find  any  certain 
information;  though  a later  story  (in  the  ninth-century 
chronicle  of  Altino)  brings  them  to  Antioch  and  other 
Syrian  ports  before  the  appearance  of  the  Saracens.  But  the 
intercourse  was,  in  any  case,  very  slight,  and  almost  wholly 
one-sided.  Many  Eastern  products  were  valued  and  sought 
after  in  the  west  of  Europe,  even  in  the  days  of  Clovis,  but 
there  was  nothing  to  offer  in  exchange  but  money  and  furs. 
The  trickle  of  Oriental  commerce  into  the  lands  beyond 
the  Adriatic  was  answered  by  no  corresponding  stream  from 
the  same  Western  countries. 

1 Greg.  Tours,  Hist.  Franc,  v.  5;  vi.  2,  24;  vii.  36;  Agathias,  i.  2. 


198 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


So  much,  or  so  little,  for  Christian  trade  routes  and 
merchant  travel  before  the  Arab  conquests ; after  this,  the 
commercial  importance  of  the  Caliphate  is  overwhelming, 
and  until  the  Viking  Age,  our  European  traffic  humbly 
depends  upon  the  leavings  of  the  new  Empire,  upon  the 
crumbs  that  fall  from  the  table  of  Islam. 

The  great  highways,  indeed,  are  not  changed,  except 
that  the  Moslems  are  now  masters  of  the  same ; in  posses- 
sion of  the  whole  carrying  trade  that  in  earlier  time  Romans, 
Abyssinians,  Persians,  and  Bokhariots  had  divided.  The 
Red  Sea  is  cut  off  from  Christendom,  like  the  Caspian ; the 
south-coast,  like  the  overland,  routes,  pass  into  new  hands ; 
and  receive  from  them  a wonderful  development.  While 
the  Empire  of  Charles  the  Great  is  falling  into  anarchy, 
Arab  merchants  have  passed  all  the  shores  and  islands  of 
Further  India,  have  opened  marts  in  China,  and  are  sailing 
in  the  Sea  of  Pitchy  Darkness,  beyond  the  mainland  of 
Asia.1 

From  the  days  of  their  first  attack,  the  Saracens  showed 
a care  for  the  trade  and  the  material  prosperity  of  the  lands 
they  swept  over.2  The  Levant  of  Haroun  al  Raschid  was 
far  wealthier,  and  had  a much  wider  commercial  outlook, 
than  the  realm  of  Heraclius  or  even  of  Justinian.  We  have 
seen  how  Arculf  and  others  bear  witness  to  the  continued 
splendour  of  such  ports  as  Alexandria ; but  this  well-being 
was  now  largely  independent  of  Christendom  and  its  wants. 
The  Moslem  world  was  self-contained  and  self-satisfying — at 


1 Heyd,  I.  i.  pp.  29-32. 

2 The  care  they  took,  for  example, 
in  Syria  and  Egypt  to  prevent  the 
ruin  of  the  crops,  to  guard  the  non- 
combatants,  and  to  organise  their 
new  dominion  with  an  eye  to  the 
well-being  of  agriculture  and  manu- 


factures, proves  this.  The  temporary 
discouragement  of  vine-culture  was 
perhaps  their  most  reactionary  deed, 
unless  the  story  of  Omar  and  the 
Alexandrian  Library  can  be  re-estab- 
lished (cf.  Heyd,  i.  25). 


V.]  BYZANTINE  COMMERCIAL  ENTERPRISE,  A.D.  600-900.  199 

least,  so  far  as  it  looked  towards  the  west;  to  north  and 
east,  and  even  to  south,  it  showed  a different  spirit. 

We  cannot  here  enter  upon  the  fascinating  subject  of 
Arabic  enterprise  and  science,  although  it  is  here  certainly 
that  the  human  intelligence  finds  its  best  expression,  both 
in  geography  and  other  branches  of  knowledge,  between  the 
Age  of  Ptolemy  and  that  of  Marco  Polo ; we  must  attend 
to  the  corresponding  movement,  or  lack  of  movement,  in 
the  Christendom  of  the  early  Middle  Ages. 

1.  Greek  or  Byzantine  commerce  with  Asia  and  Africa, 
after  languishing  through  the  time  of  the  first  Saracen 
irruption  and  settlement,  seems  to  have  revived  early  in  the 
ninth  century.  Leo  the  Armenian  (Leo  V.,  a.d.  813-820), 
in  consequence  of  rumoured  outrages  at  the  holy  places, 
forbade  his  subjects  to  visit  Syria  and  Egypt ; but  this 
restriction  was  soon  removed,  and  under  his  successors  the 
trade  with  the  Caliphate  greatly  increased.1  Antioch, 
Alexandria,  and  Trebizond  were  the  principal  marts;  but 
Thessalonica  and  Cherson — Saloniki  and  the  Crimea — had 
a certain,  though  smaller,  share  in  this  traffic. 

Yet  however  much  Constantinople  imported  articles  of 
luxury,  it  did  little  to  develop  its  own  manufacture  of 
silk,  and  almost  nothing  to  awaken  a commerce  among 
its  more  backward  Christian  neighbours.  Immense  wealth 
might  have  rewarded  Greek  merchants  in  the  rising  Italian 
ports,  but  the  chance  was  missed ; and,  worse  than  all,  the 
carrying  trade  of  the  European  nations  was  allowed  to  slip 
into  the  hands  of  Venetians  and  Amalphitans.  For  the 
Byzantines  sacrificed  power  to  show,  as  consistently  as  old 
Rome  disregarded  appearance  for  reality.  They  liked  to 


1 From  Moslem  brokers  this  same 
Leo  Y.  must  have  obtained  the  Indian 
aromatics  Cedrenus  speaks  of  (ii.  54, 


Ed.  Bonn. ; see  Theophanes,  Contin. 
p.  457).  (Of.  Heyd,  I.  ii.  pp.  52,  53, 
110.) 


200 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


dazzle  the  eyes  of  barbarians  with  magnificent  presents  and 
spectacles ; they  were  ever  on  the  watch  to  make  a good 
profit  on  valuable  imports,  and  they  exacted  a heavy  tax 
(of  ten  per  cent.)  on  all  exports  : but  they  did  not  understand 
the  advantage  of  a liberal  and  enterprising  commerce.  It 
was  undignified,  to  their  mind,  to  go  and  seek  out  trade  with 
other  nations  ; let  these  come  to  the  queen  of  cities,  and  pay 
highly  for  the  privilege  of  access  : but,  above  all,  let  not 
the  Empire  part  with  anything  really  precious  in  exchange. 
The  Byzantine  idea  of  commerce  was  to  get  everything  and 
to  give  nothing  ; and  their  short-sighted  and  ruinous  selfish- 
ness was  but  rarely  visited  by  glimpses  of  comparative 
sanity.  Such  an  exception  appeared  now  and  then  in  the 
course  of  the  Slav  traffic  with  Constantinople;  we  find 
Greek  merchants  among  the  Bulgarians 1 of  the  Lower 
Danube,  in  Southern  Kussia,  and  in  the  Crimea ; but  this 
commerce  belongs  almost  entirely  to  a later  time,  to  the 
tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  and  is  partly  inspired  by  a 
later  movement — that  of  the  Norsemen. 

2.  In  the  Frankish  kingdom,  in  Germany  and  France, 
Slavs  and  Italians  were  the  principal  traders,  although 
native  markets  existed  at  Mainz,  Magdeburg,  Erfurt,  and  at 
various  points  along  the  line  of  the  Elbe  and  Saale,  the  limits 
of  the  German  people  and  of  Christendom  alike  on  this  side. 
Teuton  merchants  resorted  to  the  town  of  Jumna,2  eight 
days’  journey  east  of  Hamburg,  from  the  time  of  its  founda- 
tion at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  but  the  settled  inhabi- 
tants of  this  town  long  remained  heathen  and  Sclavonian. 

The  modern  finds  of  Oriental,  and  especially  of  Arab, 
coins  in  Germany 3 point  to  some  actual  traffic,  though 


1 Cf.  Theophanes,  i.  175.  Con- 
stantine Porphyrogenitus,  De  Adm. 
Imp.  p.  77. 

2 Adam  of  Bremen,  in  Pertz,  Scrip- 


tores,  vii.  312 ; cf.  Heyd,  I.  ii.  pp.  63, 
77. 

3  Of  surprising  amount,  numbering 
many  thousands  of  pieces. 


V.] 


LATIN  TRADE-ENTERPRISE,  A.D.  600-900. 


201 


unrecorded,  upon  the  route  described  by  the  Caliph’s  post- 
master, Ibn  Khordadbeh.  Writing  about  880,  he  tells  us 
how  merchants  could  pass  to  and  fro  between  the  lands  of 
the  Franks  and  the  Oxus,  by  a track  from  the  Elbe  to  the 
Volga,  and  so  round  the  north  of  the  Caspian  to  Samarcand, 
and  even  to  China.  But  this  way  seems  to  have  been 
chiefly  used  by  Jewish  brokers  and  dealers,  and  it  was  more 
on  the  side  of  Italy  and  the  Adriatic  that  native  German 
enterprise  was  called  out,  by  the  alliance  with  the  Venetian 
merchants. 

The  canal  begun  by  Charles  the  Great  between  Bhine 
and  Danube 1 was  immediately  intended  to  aid  his  military 
operations  against  the  Avars.  His  successes  opened  the 
way  for  the  hucksters  who  followed  in  the  wake  of  the 
army,  from  Batisbon  or  from  Lorsch ; but  the  Black  Swarm 
of  the  Hungarians  soon  put  an  end  to  this  line  of  trade 
(c.  880),  and  till  the  end  of  the  first  millennium  the  overland 
commerce  of  Western  Europe  was  thrown  back  into  its 
North  German  channel,  and  prisoned  there. 

Nearly  all  Latin  trade  with  the  outer  world,  however* 
now  flowed  through  the  Mediterranean,  and  this  naturally 
fell  to  the  share  of  Italy,  as  Spain  was  Mussulman  and 
Southern  France  both  more  distant  and  more  backward. 
The  men  of  Batisbon  appear  to  have  been  the  first  Teutons 
to  discover  the  truth  of  this ; and  they  and  the  Augsburgers 
were  to  be  seen  in  the  markets  of  Venice  at  a very  early 
day,2  in  the  same  way  that  Lombard  merchants  frequented 
St.  Denis’  fair  in  Paris,  before  the  death  of  Mohammed.3 

In  Gaul,  or  the  western  Frankish  land,  an  indirect  com- 
merce, generally  passing  through  Italian  hands,  continued 

1 More  exactly,  between  Altmiibl  I 2 Ninth  and  tenth  centuries, 

and  Rednitz  (Heyd,  I.  ii.  pp.  80,  81,  | 3 From  the  time  of  Dagobert  I.,  c. 

and  authorities  as  above).  | a.d.  629. 


202  C OMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

with  Syria  and  Egypt,  under  the  house  of  Pepin  and 
of  Charles,  as  under  the  descendants  of  Clovis.  Pepper, 
spices,  dates,  and  paper  are  all  mentioned1  among  the 
imports  of  the  eighth  century ; and  in  the  reign  of  Charle- 
magne himself  this  traffic,  for  a time  at  least,  grew  apace. 
Arab  caliph  and  Teuton  king  were  sworn  friends,  so  long 
as  Aachen  was  at  a safe  distance  from  Bagdad.  On  his 
side,  Charles  sent  Frisian  cloth,  possibly  with  furs  and 
amber.2  Haroun  al  Baschid  returned  his  presents  by  others, 
of  rare  animals,  musical  instruments,  silk  stuffs,  perfumes, 
and  drugs ; and  both  the  Moslem  prince  and  the  Christian 
Churches  of  Asid,  gave  some  sort  of  sanction  to  a favourite 
title  of  the  Frankish  emperor.  As  Protector  of  the  holy 
places,  he  built  a hospice,  organised  a market,  and  afforded 
protection  to  Christian  pilgrims  and  traders  “ of  the  Boman 
tongue  ” in  Jerusalem.3  His  name  and  his  foundations  were 
still  respected,  half  a century  after  his  death,  when  Bernard 
the  Wise  of  Mont  St.  Michel  arrived  in  Syria  (c.  868-870). 

But  the  same  record  which  tells  of  the  “ hostelry  of  the 
glorious  Charles  ” in  the  Holy  City,  gives  us  proof  enough, 
like  all  other  records  of  the  time,  that  Latin  commerce  did 
not  survive  him  like  his  benefactions.  The  Arab  corsairs, 
who  throve  upon  the  decline  of  the  Frank  kingdom,  were 
now  destroying  all  traffic  but  their  own,  or  their  allies’,  over 
the  Mediterranean ; and,  till  far  on  in  the  tenth  century,  the 


1 As  in  the  grant  of  Chilperic  III. 
to  the  abbey  of  Corbie  of  an  annual 
duty  upon  the  douane  receipts  of 
Fos.  This  town,  on  the  Fossse 
Maritimae,  or  old  canal  of  Provence, 
constructed  to  aid  the  communica- 
tions of  the  Lower  Rhone  districts 
with  the  Mediterranean,  appears  for 
a time  as  a rival  to  Marseilles. 

2 Charles  even  went  so  far  as  to 


wish  there  were  no  sea  between  the 
Franks  and  the  Bagdad  Saracens — 
“ O utinam  non  esset  ille  gurgitulus 
inter  nos  ” (Monk  of  St.  Gall.  743. 
Also  cf.  Einhardt,  Vita  Caroli,  cc.  23, 
24,  27,  etc. ; Monk  of  St.  Gall,  752, 
761,  in  Dummler’s  collection;  cf. 
Heyd,  I.  pp.  87n,  90,  91,  etc.). 

3  Cf.  Bernard  the  Wise,  ch.  x. 


V.] 


LATIN  TRADE-ENTERPRISE,  A.D.  600-900. 


203 


only  safe  mode  of  transit  was  in  Saracen  vessels,  and  under 
Saracen  protection. 

3.  The  British  Islands,  before  the  appearance  and  settle- 
ment of  the  Northmen,  had  scarcely  any  intercourse  with  the 
outside  world,  except  of  a purely  religious  kind.  The  Irish 
and  Northumbrian  art  and  culture  of  the  eighth  and  ninth 
centuries,  the  journeys  of  early  English  saints  to  Iona  or  to 
Rome,  are  connected,  not  with  commerce,  but  with  missionary 
and  pilgrim  travel.  Willibald  and  Boniface,  Columba  and 
Columban,  St.  Gall  and  Yirgil,  Eidelis  and  Dicuil,  Wilfrid 
and  Benedict — scarcely  any  one  of  these  ever  figures  as  a 
trader.1  Never  did  the  “ isles  of  saints  ” look  less  towards 
the  national  destiny,  the  national  instinct,  of  shopkeeping. 
The  feeble  beginnings  of  our  commerce  are  only  to  be 
discovered  in  the  Yiking  Age ; perhaps  the  first  traces  are 
apparent  in  the  journeys2  of  Sighelm  and  iEthelstan  (c. 
883),  of  Ohthere  and  Wulfstan  (c,  895)  to  the  far  East,  the 
White  Sea,  and  the  Baltic  in  the  service  of  BElfred  the  Great.3 

4.  It  was  in  Italy  that  the  most  active  mercantile  life 
was  aroused  during  this  time  (c.  600-900)  ; and  its  develop- 
ment would  have  been  still  more  rapid,  but  for  the  harassing 
trouble  of  Moslem  raiders,  and  the  constantly  recurring 
danger  of  a Mussulman  dominion  throughout  the  peninsula. 
With  the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  the  rising  commercial 
republics  of  South  Italy- — Salerno,  Amalphi,  Naples,  and 
Gaieta — allied  themselves,  to  the  scandal  of  other  Christian 
States,  with  the  Saracens  whom  they  dared  not  defy. 
They  were  even  accused,  and  with  justice,  of  aiding  and 
abetting  in  the  slave-hunts  of  the  African  corsairs,4  sure  of 


1 But  cf.  the  curious  story  of  Bede’s 
bequest  of  pepper  to  a friend. 

2 Cf.  O.E.  Chron.  sub.  an.  883; 
Alfred’s  Orosius. 

3 See  p.  214  of  this  vol. 


4  Thus  Sichard  of  Beneventum,  in 
836,  binds  them  not  to  kidnap  and 
enslave  any  of  his  people ; see  Capi- 
tulare  Sichardi  in  Pertz  Legg.  iv. 
218 ; cf.  Heyd,  I.  ii.  p.  99,  etc. 


204 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


a percentage  on  the  profits.  Thus  Lewis  the  German,  in 
870,  exclaims  that  Naples  has  become  a second  Palermo, 
an  outpost  of  Islam  and  a depot  for  its  booty.  Pope 
John  VIII.,  in  875,  repeats  the  charge  against  the  whole 
group  of  towns,  which,  in  that  year,  had  again  joined  the 
Saracens  in  carrying  fire  and  sword  into  Central  Italy.  But 
he  thundered  in  vain.  Not  till  the  tenth  century,  and  then 
by  military  force  rather  than  Church  censures,  were  these 
ravages  checked  and  the  infamous  league  dissolved. 

Yet  it  was  probably  by  this  channel  that  quantities  of 
Oriental  goods  poured  into  Italy ; for,  in  comparison  with 
other  Latin  countries,  it  was  richly  supplied.  Byzantine 
stuffs  may  have  been  brought  in  by  the  Venetians,  for  the 
most  part ; but  the  riches  imported  from  Alexandria  must 
have  entered  almost  entirely  through  the  traffic  of  Amalphi 
with  North  Africa.1 

The  place  of  this  city,  as  helping  in  some  degree  to 
bridge  the  interval  between  two  great  ages  of  progress,  the 
classical  and  the  crusading,  for  the  south  of  Europe,  is 
tantalising  in  its  interest  and  its  vagueness.  Not  less  so 
is  its  position  in  ; later  time,  as  a claimant  for  the  honour  of 
nautical  invention  in  the  West.  “ Prima  dedit  nautis  usum 
magnetis  Amalphis.”  2 

Parallel  to  the  precocious  growth  of  Amalphi  is  that  of 
Venice.  In  both  cities  the  lists  of  doges,  or  sovereign  mayors 
—practically  independent,  though,  in  name,  vassals  of  By- 
zantium,— begin  at  much  the  same  time,  about  the  year 


1 It  was  not  till  later  that  Amal- 
phi had  direct  intercourse  with  the 

Levant — 973  is  the  earliest  instance 
known.  But  even  in  the  ninth 
century  we  find  a family  from 
Antioch  (that  of  “ Maurus  Vica- 
rius  ”)  at  the  head  of  the  government 
of  Amalphi.  This  does  not  prove 


direct  intercourse  of  the  two  cities, 
but  it  is  a curious  fact.  We  may 
also  recall  how  Willibald,  in  722, 
saw  a ship  from  Egypt  in  the  port  of 
Naples. 

2 Antony  of  Bologna,  surnamed 
“ of  Palermo.” 


V.] 


LATIN  TRADE  ENTERPRISE,  A.D.  600-900. 


205 


700.  In  both  cities  a commerce  with  North  Africa  was 
developed  before  the  end  of  the  ninth  century.  But  the 
Venetians  were  soon  further  afield  than  their  rivals.  Direct 
intercourse,  though  slight  and  intermittent,  was  established 
between  the  Adriatic  and  the  Levant  in  the  lifetime  of 
Charles  the  Great,  or  soon  after  his  death.  When  Leo  V. 
(813-820)  forbade  the  Byzantines  to  visit  Syria  and  Egypt, 
Venice,  as  a “Roman”  town,  followed  the  emperor’s  lead. 
But  in  827  or  828  they  appear  again  at  Alexandria,  and 
commit  a sacred  robbery.  As  Bernard  the  Wise  tells  us,  it 
was  now  they  carried  off  the  relics  of  St.  Mark,  who  seems 
to  have  become  their  patron  as  the  guardian  of  Christian 
Egypt,  and  as  their  protector  on  the  long  and  dangerous 
voyage  to  this  their  earliest  distant  market. 

Their  European  trade  seems  also  to  have  been  a creation 
of  the  time  of  Charlemagne.  It  was  through  his  friendship, 
through  his  grants  of  entire  freedom  of  trade  in  the  Frankish 
empire,  that  they  were  able  to  win  the  position  of  middle- 
men between  Western  Europe  and  the  Levant.  By  the 
Padus  and  the  Adige  they  transported  their  wares  into  the 
heart  of  Italy.  By  the  Brenner  and  other  passes  of  Tyrol 
they  made  their  way  to  the  chief  towns  of  the  Karling  States. 
As  wellnigh  the  only  traders  of  Latin  Christendom  who  dealt 
directly  with  the  Eastern  harbours  of  the  great  inland  sea, 
they  were  almost  beyond  competition,  until  first  Amalphi 
nnd  then  Pisa  and  Genoa  entered  upon  the  same  field. 

II.  Missionary  Travel. 

Stories  of  extensive  missionary  travel  are  connected  with 
the  earliest  days  of  Christianity.  St.  Thomas  and  St. 
Bartholomew  were  said  to  have  preached  in  India  and  in 
Central  Asia  according  to  a disputed  tradition ; the  “ blessed 
presbyter,”  Pantsenus  of  Alexandria,  more  certainly  visited 


206 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


Hindostan  in  the  second  century  (a.d.  189) ; and  the  Gospel 
was  carried  far  into  Africa  and  Arabia,  before  the  conversion 
of  the  Eoman  Empire.  In  the  same  way,  Gregory  the 
Illuminator  travelled  and  taught  in  Armenia  as  early  as 
the  reign  of  Valerian  (a.d.  257);  while  Licinius  was  still 
reigning  in  the  East,  Bishop  Hermon  of  Jerusalem  (about 
311)  despatched  Ephraim  on  a mission  journey  to  “ Scythia,” 
and  Basil  on  a similar  errand  to  the  Crimea : and  these  are 
only  samples  of  a widespread  activity,  called  out  by  the 
proselytizing  zeal  of  the  early  Church.  But  the  two  chief 
extensions  of  the  new  religion  beyond  the  Mediterranean 
world,  to  South  and  East,  followed  upon,  and  did  not  pre- 
cede, the  primary  and  fundamental  success  of  the  imperial 
alliance  it  had  gained  with  Constantine.1 

1.  The  Abyssinian  Church  was  founded,  or  at  least 
became  the  religion  of  the  people,  in  the  fourth  century, 
through  the  labours  of  missionaries  from  Alexandria.  About 
a.d.  330,  Frumentius,  who,  according  to  the  oldest  form 
of  the  story,2  had  sailed  for  India  with  one  Meropius,  was 
stopped  and  plundered  on  the  Red  Sea  coast ; he  found  a 
refuge  among  the  Abyssinians,  through  the  help  of  Christian 
merchants  trading  in  the  country ; and,  at  last  returning  to 
Egypt,  received  the  commission  and  consecration  of  Atha- 
nasius as  bishop  of  Ethiopia,  or  Hither  India.  Such  was  the 
account  given  to  Rufinus  by  Edesius,  the  friend  and  com- 
panion of  the  new  “ apostle,”  who,  however,  did  not  return 
with  him  to  Ethiopia. 

The  first  orthodox  mission  was  soon  followed  by  an 


1 See  Jerome,  “De  Viris  Illustribus,” 
c.  36,  letters,  Ad  Marcellam  (No.  148, 
in  old  edd.  = Migne,  lix.),  and  Ad 
Magnum;  Eusebius,  H.  E.,  v.  10;  La 
Croze,  “ Christianisme  des  Indes,”  i. 

57-70 ; Rae,  “ Syrian  Church  in 
India,”  especially  pp.  62-78 ; Gibbon, 


ch.  xlvii. ; Neale,  “ Holy  Eastern 
Church”  (Patriarchates  of  Antioch 
and  Alexandria);  Baronius,  “An- 
nales,”  under  years  referred  to. 

2 As  given  by  Rufinus,  i.  9.  See 
Socrates,  i.  19;  Sozomen,ii.  24;  Theo- 
doret,  i.  23. 


V.]  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL  IN  ABYSSINIAN  CHANNEL.  207 


heretical  one.  In  356,  the  Arian  Emperor  Constantins  sent 
the  “ Indian  ” Theophilus,  possibly  a native  of  Socotra,1  with 
letters  to  the  Princes  of  Axum,  as  lords  of  the  sacred  city 
of  the  Abyssinians,  urging  the  expulsion  of  Frumentius,  and 
an  alliance  with  himself  in  the  interests  of  Arianism.  This 
was  part  of  a far-reaching  scheme  of  Arian  proselytism  and 
imperial  ambition,  especially  aimed  at  “ those  formerly 
called  Sabseans,  but  now  known  as  Homeritse,”  in  Arabia 
Felix.  The  conquest  of  this  Happy  Land  had  been  a favourite 
object  of  Boman  policy  since  the  days  of  Augustus,  when 
Strabo  accompanied  iElius  Gallus  on  his  march  against  that 
very  same  region  of  spices.  Theophilus,  the  present  envoy, 
had  been  sent  to  Borne  while  “ very  young,”  as  a hostage 
from  the  islanders  of  Divus  (?  Diu  or  more  probably  Socotra), 
when  Constantine  was  at  the  head  of  the  Empire.  He  did 
not  succeed  in  his  commission  against  Frumentius ; but  he 
visited  not  only  Abyssinia,  but  the  Homerites  of  Yemen, 
and  apparently  most  of  the  Southern  coast  of  Asia,  from  the 
Straits  of  Babel  Mandeb  to  the  Indus,  or  even  beyond ; he 
is  recorded  to  have  built  churches  at  Aden,  at  Sana  (Zaphar, 
or  Tapharum),  the  “ metropolis  ” of  the  Sabseans,  and  “ where 
the  mart  of  Persian  commerce  stands  hard  by  the  mouth  of 
the  Persian  Sea ; ” finally  he  returned  through  the  land  of 
the  Axumites,2  to  the  Boman  Empire.  Everywhere  he  pro- 
moted his  own  sect,  either  the  true  faith  or  the  damnablest 


1 See  Letronne,  “ Cliristianisme  en 
Nubie,  etc.”  The  use  of  the  term 

“India”  for  many  parts  of  East 
Africa  and  Southern  Arabia  (as  in 
Marco  Polo)  is  common  enough. 
See  Letronne,  also,  in  Receuil  Acad. 
Inscr,,  etc.,  ix.  158 ; x.  235,  etc. ; and 
in  Journal  des  Savants , 1842,  p.  665  ; 
Reinaud,  “ Relations  de  l’Empire 
Romain  avec  l’Asie,  etc.,”  p.  175,  etc. 


2 See  Letronne,  “ Ohristianisme  en 
Nubie,Abyssinie,etc.;  ” Philostorgius 
in  Photius,  Biblioth.,  Cod.  xl.,  and  his 
abridgment  of  Phil.  iii.  4-6;  Athana- 
sius, “Apology  to  Constantius,” § 31 ; 
Nicephorus  Callistes,  ix.  12.  The 
letter  of  Constantius  to  the  Axu- 
mitesis  given  in  Baronius,  “ Annales,” 
a.d.  356. 


208 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


of  heresies ; on  the  fact  friends  and  enemies  are  agreed,  with 
only  a slight  change  of  epithets. 

In  the  course  of  the  next  (fifth)  century,  and  probably 
about  460,  at  a time  coincident  with  the  schism  in  the 
Church  of  Egypt  which  followed  upon  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon,  “ many  monks  ” are  said  to  have  come  to  Abyssinia 
from  “ Rome,”  or  the  Roman  world ; and,  among  these,  nine 
are  mentioned  by  the  Chronicle  of  Axum,  under  more  or  less 
Ethiopic  names.  From  these,  however,  may  still  be  recovered 
the  Greek  forms  of  Pantaleon  and  Michael;1  and  to  their 
labours  may  be  ascribed  the  stubborn  adherence  of  the 
Abyssinian,  in  alliance  with  the  Coptic,  Church  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  One  nature  in  Jesus  Christ,  against  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon. 

Early  in  the  sixth  century  we  come  upon  another  notice 
of  intercourse  between  the  Empire,  and  the  Ethiopian 
Christians.  To  avenge  the  cruel  persecution  of  the  faithful 
of  Najran,  by  the  Jew  tyrant,  Dhu  Nowas,2  King  Kaleb, 
or  Elesbaan,  made  war  upon  the  Homerites  in  522.  With 
an  army  of  120,000  men,  he  crossed  the  Straits,  conquered 
Yemen,  and  set  up  a Christian  sub-kingdom  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Red  Sea.  On  his  victory,  he  sent  the  news  of 
it  to  Justin,  apparently  with  a request  for  some  “ Roman  ” 
ecclesiastic  to  set  in  order  the  affairs  of  the  Abyssinian 
Church,3  or,  perhaps  more  exactly, to  organize  the  Christianity 


1 See  Ludolplius,  Hist.  JEthiop., 
III.  iii. 

2 To  this,  perhaps,  Mohammed 

alludes  in  the  eighty-fifth  chapter  of 
the  Koran  : “ Cursed  were  the  con- 
trivers of  the  pit  of  fire,  when  they  sat 
over  against  it,  and  were  witnesses 
of  what  they  inflicted  on  the  believers. 
. . . They  hated  them  for  their  faith 
in  God.”  It  is  by  this  war  of 
Elesbaan  against  the  Homerites  that 


Cosmas  dates,  in  his  “ Christian  Topo- 
graphy.” Ludolphus  (Hist.  JEthiop. 
ii.  4)  says  Kaleb  transported  his 
army  in  423  ships  across  the  Red 
Sea,  and  gives  some  triumphant  verses 
on  his  success.  See  T.  Wright, 
“Early  Christianity  in  Arabia,” 
pp.  49,  etc. ; John  of  Ephesus  in 
Assemani  B.  O. ; John  Malalas,  pt. 
ii. ; Theoph.  Chronog. 

3  Procop.,  De  Bell.  Persic,  i.  1 9. 


V.]  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL  IN  ABYSSINIAN  CHANNEL.  209 

of  the  newly  conquered  country.  For  this  purpose,  Bishop 
Gregentius  was  now  sent  to  be  the  Samuel  of  the  new 
Saul. 

Following  close  upon  this  came  Justinian’s  attempt, 
already  noticed,  for  a closer  political  and  commercial  as  well 
as  religious  alliance  between  the  Empire  and  Ethiopia,  with 
the  mission  of  Nonnosus  in  533.  Nonnosus  was  something 
of  an  observer,  and  Photius 1 has  preserved  to  us  a few  of 
his  memoranda  upon  Axum  and  Adule,  the  chief  centres 
in  his  time  of  Abyssinian  trade,  faith,  and  government.  It 
was  with  Adule  merchants  that  Cosmas,  a few  years  earlier 
or  later,  travelled  to  the  incense-bearing  coast  of  Barbary 
or  East  Africa,  beyond  Guardafui. 

The  conversion  of  the  Blemmyes  2 of  Nubia  at  about  the 
same  time  (in  the  reign  of  Justinian)  may  be,  to  a certain 
extent,  connected  with  Christian  missionary  travel,  although 
no  names  are  preserved  to  us  of  wandering  preachers  who 
44  broke  up  ^Ethiopia  with  the  ploughshare  of  personal 


1 Photius,  Biblioth.  cod.  3;  John 
Malalas,  part  ii.  pp.  193-196 ; Pro- 
copius, De  Bell.  Pers.  chs.  19,  20; 
Wright,  “Christianity  in  Arabia,”  87- 
89.  Nonnosus’  father  and  grandfather 
had  both  been  sent  on  diplomatic  jour- 
neys to  Arab  princes — the  Mondar  of 
Ghassan,  and  the  King  of  Kenda. 
He  himself,  after  ascending  the  Nile, 
crossedithe  Red  Sea, landed  in  Arabia, 
and  visited  Kenda.  From  the  harbour 
of  Bulicas,  in  Yemen,  he  sailed  to 
Adule.  Thence  he  went  up  to  Axum, 
by  way  of  Aua,  or  Aueen,  where  he 
saw  a herd  of  a thousand  elephants. 
At  Axum  the  Negus  gave  him 
audience  in  an  open  field.  The 
Abyssinian  ruler  wras  seated  on  a 
lofty,  four-wheeled  chariot,  drawn 
by  four  elephants,  caparisoned  with 

plates  of  gold;  and  was  dressed  in 


a tunic  set  with  pearls  and  gems, 
and  a lower  garment  of  linen  and 
gold  thread.  His  diadem  was  a 
linen  cap  crusted  with  gold,  from 
which  hung  four  chains ; on  his 
arms  were  bracelets  and  chains  of 
gold;  in  his  hands  were  two  spears 
and  a gilded  shield.  His  nobles 
were  dressed  in  the  same  way,  but 
with  less  magnificence  ; a band  of 
musicians  attended  the  court.  The 
“ Roman  ” letters  and  presents  were 
received  with  great  respect,  and  the 
advice  of  Justinian  was  instantly 
adopted;  the  Negus  brandished  his 
arms,  and  vowed  undying  enmity 
against  the  idolaters  of  Persia. 

2 Cosmas  (ii.)  mentions  the  inter- 
course of  the  Axumites  with  the 
Blemmyes.  See  additional  note  on 
page  242. 


P 


210 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


exhortation,” 1 and  it  must  remain  doubtful  from  which  side, 
the  Egyptian  or  Abyssinian,  these  tribes  of  the  Upper  Nile 
were  more  strongly  influenced.  In  any  case,  they  were 
caught  between  two  fires.  Axumite  kings,  such  as  he  who 
contributed  so  large  a share  to  the  Adule  inscription,  and 
who  records  his  conquest  of  Kasou,2  near  Meroe  or  Khartoum, 
were  threatening  on  the  south;  the  might  and  name  of 
Rome,  and  the  chief  resources  of  the  Church,  would  more 
naturally  be  employed  on  the  north.  In  this  relation  we 
may  notice  the  inscription  (of  the  sixth  century)  set  up  by 
King  Silco  of  Nubia  in  the  temple  of  Talmis  as  a monument 
of  his  victory  over  the  surrounding  idolaters ; and  the  evidence 
of  the  survival  of  Christianity  in  the  upper  valley  of  the 
Nile  far  down  into  the  eighth  century,  when  Islam  began 
to  exterminate  its  rival.  Not  without  interest  in  this  con- 
nection are  the  letters  of  Isaac  and  of  Michael,  patriarchs  of 
Alexandria,  in  687  and  737  respectively,  to  the  Christian 
kings  of  Nubia,  exhorting  them  to  concord  with  their 
Abyssinian  brethren,  and  dissuading  them  from  intended 
attacks  upon  Moslem  Egypt. 

The  Abyssinian  Empire  of  Elasbaan  had  once  threatened, 
as  we  have  seen,  to  create  a great  Southern  or  Ethiopic 
Church.  But  this  passed  away  like  a dream,  for  the  success 
of  Islam  in  Arabia  itself  first  of  all  expelled  Christian  warriors 
and  missionaries  from  the  native  land  of  the  Prophet ; and 
after  his  death,  the  war  was  soon  carried  into  the  aggressor’s 
home.  The  Ethiopian  coasts  and  the  Nile  Valley,  right  up 
to  the  Abyssinian  highlands,  were  alike  conquered  by  the 
Saracens,  and  only  distance  and  obscurity  saved  the  Negus 
from  submission  to  the  Caliphs.  For  eight  hundred  years 


1 See  Letronne,  “ Christianism 

en  Nubie,  etc.  ; ” Ludolphus,  Hist. 
xEthiop.  (iii.  2);  Rufinus  (x.  9,  etc.). 


2 Such  is  Glaser’s  emendation  for 
Sasou.  See  “ Die  Abessinier  in 
Arabien  und  Africa.” 


V.]  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL  IN  NESTORIAN  CHANNEL.  211 

the  Abyssinian  Church  remained  cut  off  and  almost  wholly 
forgotten  by  the  rest  of  Christendom — except  only  the 
schismatical  Copts  of  Egypt, — till  “Prester  John”1  was 
rediscovered  (in  a new  continent)  by  the  Portuguese  (from  A.D. 
1486),  and  the  “ sheep  of  ^Ethiopia  ” were  attacked,  in  the 
words  of  the  native  anthem,  by  the  “hysenas  of  the  West.”  2 

2.  The  hope  of  a far-reaching,  wealthy,  and  powerful 
Southern  Church  thus  proved  a delusion;  but  an  Eastern 
Communion  was  formed  by  the  Nestorian  missions,  which  at 
one  time  probably  outnumbered  the  whole  Catholic  body, 
and  for  centuries  was  the  chief  representative  of  Christianity 
to  Asia,  the  honoured  teacher  of  early  Arabic  science,  and 
the  strongest  link  between  Greek  and  Moslem  knowledge. 

To  its  general  history — to  the  part  this  great  heresy 
once  played  in  the  intercourse  of  the  Further  and  the  Nearer 
East— we  can  only  allude.  But  a word  more  must  be  said  of 
the  travels  of  those  Nestorian  missionaries  who  preached  and 
baptized  under  the  shadow  of  the  wall  of  China,  and  on  the 
shores  of  the  Yellow  Sea,  the  Caspian,  and  the  Indian  Ocean. 

A hundred  years  before  Nestorius,  an  orthodox  mission 
had  been  extended  far  into  Central  Asia — at  the  very  time 
when  the  religious  travel  of  the  Latin  West  was  beginning 
with  the  journey  of  the  Bordeaux  pilgrim,  and  when  Con- 
stantine had  given  fresh  vigour  to  the  Church,  in  East  and 
AVest  alike,  by  his  adoption  of  Christianity  as  the  religion 
of  the  Empire.  Bishop  John  “of  Persia  and  Great  India” 


1 At  first,  in  the  eleventh  century, 
a central  Asiatic  potentate,  tradition- 
ally converted  by  the  Nestorians  in 
1008. 

2 See  Bent,  “Sacred  City  of  the 
Abyssinians,”  especially  pages  49, 
176,  181,  190,  192,  194,  etc.  From 
his  conclusions  we  may  gather  that 
Ludolphus  is  not  likely  to  be  soon 


superseded,  or  any  very  striking  dis- 
coveries added  to  knowledge  from 
Abyssinian  sources  (see  especially 
p.  49,  on  the  question  of  possible 
manuscript  finds).  Ethiopic  litera- 
ture, so  far  as  known,  appears  to  be 
almost  entirely  of  a secondary  cha- 
racter, e.g.  translations  from  Greek 
and  Syriac. 


212  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

attended  the  Nicene  Council  in  325 ; in  334,  one  Barsabas 
was  travelling  in  Khorasan  as  Bishop  of  Merv  ; in  the  same 
period  Christians  were  so  largely  increasing  in  Persia  as  to 
bring  upon  themselves  the  cruel  persecution  of  King  Sapor 
and  his  Magians.1  At  the  beginning  of  the  next  century 
the  missionary  travels  of  Samuel,  bishop  of  Tusa,  and  the 
presence  of  a (unnamed)  Bishop  of  Merv  at  a synod  in  410, 
prove  the  continued  life  of  Catholic  Christianity  in  the  same 
distant  region.2  But  this  early  venture  was  ruined  or 
absorbed  by  the  still  greater  activity  and  larger  scope  of  the 
heretical  movement  that  followed  it.  Nestorius  was  “made 
anathema  ” by  the  Council  of  Ephesus  in  431 ; fifty  years 
after,  in  498,  his  followers,  already  widely  spread  in  Persia, 
formally  severed  themselves  from  Byzantine  orthodoxy  and 
obedience,  and  set  up  an  independent  patriarchate  at  Ctesi- 
phon,  which,  in  762,  followed  the  Abbasside  Caliphs  to 
Bagdad.  This  rather  improved  their  position  than  other- 
wise ; for  the  Persian  kings  no  longer  looked  on  them  as 
Roman  spies : yet  both  under  the  Sassanides  and  the  Arabs, 
who  conquered  Sassanid  Persia,  Christians  were  “always 
liable  to  be  treated  with  capricious  outbursts  of  severity.” 
But  the  need  of  standing  or  falling  alone,  roused  the  Nes- 
torian  Church  to  a wonderful  activity ; and  this  activity 
expressed  itself  in  missionary  enterprise. 

In  the  sixth  century,  and  seemingly  before  a.d.  540,. 
Nestorian  bishoprics  were  founded  in  Herat  and  Samar- 
cand.  In  635  the  first  attempt  was  made  for  the  conversion 
of  China.3  Meantime,  equal  progress  had  been  made  in  the 


1 The  line  of  “Metropolitans  of 
Babylon”  ( = Ctesiphon  and  Seleucia) 
begins  in  the  fourth  century  (see 
Sozomen,  H.  E.,  ii.  9). 

2 Assemani,  Bibl.  Orient.,  iii.,  pt.  ii. 

p.  426. 


3  Arnobius,  Contra  Gentes  II. r 
speaks  vaguely  of  Christianity  having 
been  preached  to  the  Seres  (?  China) 
before  Constantine,  in  the  third 
century ; but  no  satisfactory  evidence 
of  this  is  forthcoming. 


OLD  “ SYRIAN  ” CHURCH  AT  CARANYACHIRRA  (AFTER  BISHOP  D.  WILSON). 


THE  OLD  CHURCH  OF  PARUR  ON  THE  COAST  OF  MALABAR  (AFTER  CLAUDIUS  BUCHANAN). 

[To  face  p.  213. 


V.] 


NESTORIAN  MISSION  TRAVEL  IN  MALABAR.  213 


South.  In  or  about  650  the  patriarch  Jesu  Jabus  writes 
bitterly  to  the  Bishop  of  Fars  upon  his  neglect  of  duty.  It 
was  owing  to  his  slackness,  we  are  told,  that  the  people  of 
Khorasan  had  lapsed  from  the  faith,  and  that  India,  from  the 
Persian  coast  to  Travancore,  was  now  being  deprived  of  a 
regular  ministry.1  The  same  Father  of  Fathers,  in  the  course 
of  his  short  popedom  of  ten  years,  also  addresses  himself  to 
the  Christians  of  Socotra  and  of  Balkh,  and  undertakes  to 
provide  a fresh  supply  of  bishops  for  his  spiritual  subjects 
in  the  Upper  Oxus  valley.  His  successor,  the  Patriarch 
George,  was  not  content  with  exhortation.  In  order  to 
appease  a standing  quarrel  between  the  Bactrians  and  the 
Metropolitan  of  Persia,  he  visited  Balkh  in  person  about 
a.d.  66 1.2  The  next  century  witnessed  an  increase  of  JSTes- 
torian  energy.  We  shall  see  presently  what  progress  was 
now  being  made  on  the  side  of  China ; but  in  Western  India 
the  ancient  Church  of  Malabar  was  also  quickened  into  fresh 
life  at  this  time.  As  early  as  the  sixth  century  a Christian 
named  Theodore,  who  had  come  from  the  Sepulchre  of  St. 
Thomas,  presumably  at  Maliapur,  told  Gregory  of  Tours  3 
about  this  famous  monument  and  its  wondrous  size ; and 
whether  Nestorian  or  not,  his  travels  from  the  Deccan  to 
France,  could  not  easily  be  paralleled  in  the  Christian  world 
of  that  day.  In  745,  according  to  the  native  tradition,  a 
company  of  Christians  from  Bagdad,  Nineveh,  and  Jerusa- 
lem, under  orders  from  the  arch-priest  at  Edessa,  arrived  in 
India  with  the  merchant  Thomas ; 4 and  in  774  the  Hindu 


1  “India  from  Fars  to  Colon,” 

says  tlie  patriarch.  Colon  is  Quilon  in 

Travancore,  near  Cape  Comorin,  the 
“ Columbum”  of  Bishop  Jordanus  in 

the  fourteenth  century  (see  Assemani, 
iii.,  pt.  i.  pp.  130, 131 ; pt.  ii.  pp.  133, 
437;  Yule’s  “Jordanus,”  xii.-xvii.). 


2 Assemani,  Bibl.  Orient.,  iii.,  pt.  ii. 
pp.  81,  82,  etc. 

3 Greg.  Tours,  “ De  Gloria  Mar- 
tyrum,”  ch.  xxxi. 

4 The  “ Armenian  (Aramaean) 
Merchant”  of  Gibbon,  ch.  xlvii. 
Jerome’s  letters  to  Marcella  and 


214 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


ruler  of  the  Malabar  Coast  granted  a charter,  engraven  on 
copper,  to  the  Worshippers  of  the  Cross  in  his  dominion. 
Much  the  same  process  was  repeated  in  824.  Two  mission- 
aries, Mar  Sapor  and  Mar  Peroz,  now  arrived  from  Persia,  and 
another  charter  of  liberties  was  immediately  granted  to  the 
native  Christians — probably  by  the  famous  “ Zamorin  ” 
Kerman  Permal  himself,  who,  in  827,  embarked  for  Arabia 
at  the  spot  where  Calicut  now  stands,  and  ended  his  life  as 
a Moslem  saint  in  the  holy  land  of  Islam.  In  both  these 
cases  it  is  possible  that  the  charter  was  the  result  of  the 
immigration  just  preceding.  The  Permal  dynasty  was  in 
difficulties ; and  out  of  their  troubles  the  Christians  of 
Malabar  made  their  profit.1 

Recent  discoveries  in  the  district  of  the  Seven  Rivers, 
near  Samarcand,  have  brought  to  light  some  inscriptions 
on  Nestorian  tombs,  which  illustrate  the  obscure  history  of 
these  missions  in  Central  Asia  by  certain  details.  Under 
the  years  547, 600,  956,  and  so  forth,  departed  members  of  the 
Church, — priests,  laymen,  and  women, — are  commemorated. 
One  of  these  was  an  ecclesiastic  “sent  round  to  visit  the 
Churches  ; ” another  was  a celebrated  Exegete  and  preacher, 
“ who  made  all  monasteries  bright  with  his  light,”  and  was 


Magnus  defeat  the  modern  attempt  | 
to  trace  the  Thomas  legend  of  India 
to  this  person.  According  to  Theo- 
doret  (Hseret.  Fab.,  i.,  26),  Manes 
sent  another  Thomas,  one  of  his  dis- 
ciples, to  India  in  the  third  century ; 
but  neither  can  he  be  fairly  con- 
sidered as  the  original  of  the  story. 
Pantamus  had  already  carried  a more 
orthodox  Christianity  to  India  in 
a.d.  189  (see  p.  206  of  this  vol.). 

1 See  Rae,  “Syrian  Church  in 
India,”  pp.  172-174.  The  mission 
of  King  Alfred,  who  in  883  sent  gifts 
to  “ Rome  and  St.  Thomas  in  India  ” 


j in  charge  of  Sighelm  and  iEthelstan, 
belongs  to  the  Norse  or  Viking 
movement  of  European  travel,  and 
will  be  dealt  with  later,  in  its  place. 
‘ The  Life  of  Bishop  D.  Wilson  ’ and 
the  ‘ Travels  of  Claudius  Buchanan  ’ 
give  several  sketches  of  old  Syrian 
Churches  in  Southern  India,  three  of 
which  are  reproduced  here.  (See 
Yule,  “Marco  Polo,”  ii.,  365:)  (1) 
at  Caranyachirra ; (2)  at  Cotteiyam 
in  Travancore ; (3)  at  Parur,  near 
Cranganore.  A fourth  is  said  to  be 
still  standing  at  Quilon. 


EXTERIOR  OP  OLD  “ SYRIAN  ” CHURCH  AT  COTTEIYAM  IN  TRAVANCORE 
(AFTER  BISHOP  D.  WILSON) 


INTERIOR  OF  CHURCH  AT  COTTEIYAM  (AFTER  WILSON). 

[To  face  p.  214, 


V.] 


NESTORIAN  MISSION  TRAVEL  IN  CHINA. 


215 


celebrated  for  bis  wisdom ; a third  was  the  wife  of  an 
assistant  bishop.1 

But  the  crowning  achievements  of  Hestorian  enterprise 
were  in  China,  and  of  these  we  have  an  account  in  the 
famous  monument  of  Singanfu.  This  curious  record,  dis- 
covered in  1625,  and  now,  after  many  disputes,  generally 
accepted  as  authentic,  gives  the  history  of  Chinese  Chris- 
tianity for  the  first  century  and  a half  of  its  existence* 
Opening  with  a sketch  of  Christian  doctrine  in  which  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  death  or  resurrection  of  Jesus, 
though  His  birth,2  epiphany  and  ascension  are  referred  to, 
the  inscription  goes  on  to  record  how  the  “Luminous 
Doctrine  ” (of  the  Gospel)  had  been  “ propagated  in  the 
Central  Kingdom  ” of  the  Celestials.  It  relates  how,  in  the 
ninth  year  of  the  Emperor  Taitsung,  A.D.  635-6,  there  was 
a man  of  lofty  virtue  named  Olopan,  who  came  from  Great 
China  (the  Roman  Empire),  “ directed  by  the  blue  clouds, 
observing  the  signs  of  the  winds,  and  traversing  perilous 
countries.”  Olopan,  the  record  continues,  arrived  in  safety 
at  Singanfu,  then  the  capital  of  the  Empire ; he  was  received 
with  favour  ; his  teaching  was  examined  and  approved ; his 
scriptures  were  translated  for  the  Imperial  Library ; and 
within  three  years  an  edict  of  the  Son  of  Heaven  declared 
Christianity  a tolerated  religion,  a.d.  638.  With  the  specu- 
lative fairness  of  his  race,  Taitsung  was  disposed  to  welcome 
any  religion  whose  spirit,  in  the  words  of  his  edict,  was 


1 These  monuments  were  dis- 
covered by  Dr.  Chwolson  in  1885-86 
in  the  Semiretch ensk,  to  the  south- 
east of  Lake  Balkash,  and  are  de- 
scribed and  illustrated  in  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Russian  Archeological 
Society  (Oriental  section),  vol.  i.  pt.  1, 

1886-87.  See  the  plates  fronting  p. 
160  (in  that  vol.),  and  cuts  on  pp.  88, 


102,  etc.  The  monuments  outside 
the  limits  of  our  period  are  of  956, 
962,  978,  981,  985,  996,  1002,  1005, 
1007,  1013,  1016,  1022,  1023,  1027. 

2 In  strikingly  heretical  language  : 
“ Our  Triune  God  communicated  His 
substance  to  the  Messiah,  who  ap- 
peared in  the  world  in  the  likeness 
of  a man.” 


216 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


“ virtuous,  mysterious,  and  pacific.”  The  “ radical  principle  ” 
of  the  new  Faith,  he  thought,  “ gave  birth  to  perfection,  and 
fixed  the  will.  It  was  exempt  from  verbosity,  and  considered 
only  good  results.”  Therefore  it  was  “ useful  to  man,  and 
should  be  published  under  the  whole  extent  of  the  heavens. 
And  I command  the  magistrates,”  concludes  the  emperor, 
“ to  erect  a temple  of  this  religion  in  the  Quarter  of  Justice 
and  Mercy 1 in  the  Imperial  City,  and  twenty-one  religious 
men  shall  be  installed  therein.” 

The  inscription  goes  on  to  relate  how  the  Christian  faith 
spread  and  prospered  in  China  for  the  next  half  century ; 
how  it  had  then  been  for  a time  depressed  by  Buddhism ; 
and  how,  from  about  740  to  the  time  of  writing  (in  781), 
there  had  been  a revival,  dating  from  the  travels  of  a new 
missionary,  Kiho,  who  had  come,  like  his  predecessors,  from 
the  West.  Taitsung’s  successor,2  according  to  the  monu- 
ment, was  still  more  friendly  to  the  Church.  “ He  fertilized 
the  Truth,  and  raised  Luminous  Temples  (Christian  churches) 
in  all  the  provinces,”  till  they  “filled  a hundred  cities.” 
“ The  Households  (of  faith)  were  enriched  with  marvellous 
joy ; ” Olopan  himself  became  a “ Guardian  of  the  Empire, 
and  Lord  of  the  Great  Law.”  Then  followed,  from  about 
a.d.  683,  a time  of  disfavour  and  oppression.  The  two  rulers 
who  had  done  so  much  for  the  Christians  were,  after  all,  like 
Kublai  Khan,  Akbar,  or  our  early  English  pagans,3  agnostic 
at  heart.  Reason  was  one,  faiths  were  many ; suited  to 
various  races,  times,  and  climates ; each  containing  some 
truth,  no  one  exclusive  of  the  others  : — this  was  their  position, 
and  their  “ conversion  ” did  not  go  beyond.  So  a reaction 
was  always  possible. 


1 I-ning. 

2 Kao-Tsung,  a.d.  650-683. 

3 Compare  the  tone,  half  vacilla- 
ting, half  indifferent,  of  King  Raed- 


wald  of  East  Anglia,  and  so  many 
others  of  the  old  English  princes  and 
people  at  the  time  of  the  conversion 
(597-664,  etc.),  Bede,  H.  E.,  ii  5,  15. 


THE  SINGANFU  INSCRIPTION. 


217 


y-i 


Taitsung  behaved  as  a devout  Buddhist  at  the  same  time 
that  he  ordered  the  building  of  Luminous  Temples;  and 
his  successor  heaped  grander  titles  and  more  honour  upon 
Hiouen-Thsang  than  he  did  upon  Olopan.  After  his  death 
Chinese  conservatism  rose  up  against  the  new-fangled 
worship.  The  Buddhists 1 “ resorted  to  violence,  and  spread 
their  calumnies;  low-class  men  of  letters  put  forth  jests” 
(against  the  Cross).  But  after  a time  the  Nestorian  Church 
in  China,  as  in  India,  was  revived,  apparently  by  a fresh 
influx  of  believers.  In  a.d.  7 44  “ there  was  a religious  man 
of  Great  China  (the  Roman  Orient),  named  Kiho,  who 
travelled  for  the  conversion  of  men,”  and  directly  after  his 
arrival,  “illustrious  persons  united  to  restore  the  fallen 
Law.”  In  747  the  Emperor  Hiouen-tsung  brought  back 
■“  the  venerable  images  to  the  Temple  of  Felicity,  and  firmly 
raised  its  altars ; ” with  his  own  hand  he  “ wrote  a tablet,’’ 
probably  for  the  great  church  of  the  capital.  Three  rulers 
followed  him  upon  the  throne  before  the  end  of  our  record 
(in  781),  and  all  of  these  “honoured  the  Luminous  Multi- 
tude.” One2  observed  the  Festival  of  Christmas  by  burning 
incense ; another  “ instituted  Nine  Rules  for  the  propagation 
of  the  doctrine  ” (of  Christ);  various  high  officials  of  their  court, 
a member  of  the  Council  of  War,  and  several  governors  of 
provinces,  “rendered  perpetual  service  to  the  Luminous  Gate.” 
The  inscription  closes  with  words  of  praise  and  thank- 
fulness : never  had  the  mission  been  more  fortunate  than 
when,  “ in  the  year  of  the  Greeks,  1092  (a.d.  781),  in  the  days 
of  the  Father  of  Fathers,  the  Patriarch  Anan-Yeschouah,3 


1 “ Children  of  Che.” 

2 Sutsung,  a.d.  756-762. 

3 This  is  technically  wrong,  for 
•this  patriarch  (Anan-Jesus  II.  774- 
778)  died  in  778;  hut  the  news  of 
his  death  (probably  in  or  near  Bag- 
dad) might  well  take  some  years  to 


reach  Singanfu ; communication  was 
not  necessarily  constant,  and  Anan- 
Yeschouah’s  successor  may  not  have 
notified  his  accession  to  such  a dis- 
tant mission  for  a considerable  time 
(see  Assemani,  III.  i.  155-157). 


218 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


this  marble  tablet  was  set  up  with  the  history  of  the  Dis- 
pensation of  our  Saviour  and  the  preaching  of  our  fathers 
before  the  kings  of  the  Chinese.” 

The  “ son  of  a priest  from  Balkh,”  a bishop  in  Singanfu 
itself,  and  a “councillor  of  the  palace,”  took  part  among 
others  in  the  work  of  composing  and  erecting  this  extra- 
ordinary monument,  which  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
witness  both  of  Christian  activity  in  the  earlier  Middle 
Ages,  and  of  forgotten  intercourse 1 between  China  and  the 
Western  world.  Its  general  truthfulness  is  well  borne  out 
by  what  we  know  of  the  Chinese  mission  from  other  sources. 
Between  714  and  728  the  Nestorian  Patriarch  Salibazacha 


appointed  the  first  Metropolitan 2 for  China;  in  745  the 
Emperor  Hiouen-Tsung,  the  protector  of  the  Church,  decreed 
the  name  of  Koman  Temples  to  the  Christian  Churches 
of  his  Empire,  in  allusion  to  their  Byzantine  origin ; in  or 


1 The  monument  consists  of  about 
1780  characters  in  Chinese,  on  a dark- 
coloured  marble  tablet,  feet  high 
by  3f  broad,  with  some  additional 
notes  in  Syriac  on  the  left  side  and 
at  the  base  of  the  main  text.  These 
latter  give  the  name  of  the  patriarch, 
and  of  various  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons  who  apparently  combine  in 
setting  forth  this  record.  Tracings  of 
the  inscription  were  long  ago  sent  to 
the  Jesuit  house  in  Rome,  and  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationaleat  Paris;  and 
a rubbing  was  taken  by  Baron  Richt- 
hofen on  a visit  to  Singan,  which  is 
used  by  Yule  in  his  “ Marco  Polo” 
(2nd  edition,  ii.  22),  and  is  here 
reproduced.  The  long  controversy 
about  its  genuineness  may  now  be 
regarded  as  settled.  Gibbon,  in  his 

day,  with  his  almost  infallible  judg- 
ment, declined  (ch.  xlvii.)  to  follow 
Voltaire  and  La  Croze  in  the  tempt- 
ing pastime  of  refuting  a valuable,  if 
astonishing,  proof  of  early  Christian 


energy;  and  Stanislas  Julien  is  the 
only  scholar  of  weight  who  has  dis- 
puted it  in  recent  years.  SeePauthier, 
“ De  1’ Authenticity  de  1’ Inscription 
de  Singanfn ; ” Klaproth,  “ Tableaux 
Historiques  de  l’Asie ; ” and  Abel 
Remusat  (Melanges  Asiatiques  and 
Nouv.  Mel.  Asiat.,  esp.  ii.  189,  etc.,  all 
strenuous  defenders  of  its  genuine- 
ness ; also  Hue,  “ Christianisme  en 
Chine,”  i.  chs.  i.,  ii.,iii.  (1857) ; Legge* 
“ On  the  Singanfu  Inscription  ” 
(1888);  Hirth,  “China  and  the  Roman 
Orient”  (1885);  Yule’s  “Cathay,” 
prelim,  essay,  § 6;  Marco  Polo,  ii. 
22,  etc.  ; Calcutta  Review , July, 
1889  ; Richthofen,  “ China  ” (1876). 
The  idea  of  such  a monument  was 
familiar  enough  in  Buddhism,  and 
may  have  been  borrowed  by  the 
Christian  missionaries,  either  from 
native  parallels  or  from  reminis- 
cences of  Rome. 

2 Assemani,  III.  i.  pp.  522. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  [ NESTORIAN]  INSCRIPTION  AT  SIN-GAN-FU, 
FROM  A RUBBING  BY  BARON  RICHTHOFEN. 

[To  facep.  218- 


v.J 


THE  SINGANFU  INSCRIPTION  CONFIRMED.  219 


about  790  the  Patriarch  Timothy  sent  a monk  named 
Subchal-Jesu,  from  the  famous  monastery  of  Beth-Hobeh  in 
Assyria,  to  preach  in  the  Caspian  shore-lands,  in  Tartary, 
and  in  China  ; and  after  his  murder  at  the  hands  of  robbers, 
the  same  pontiff  despatched  David  to  succeed  him  as 
Metropolitan  of  Singanfu,  together  with  six  other  bishops 
and  nine  monks,  for  the  further  conversion  of  Central  Asia. 
It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  Bishop  Abraham 
went  from  Bassora  to  the  Celestial  Kingdom;  and  some 
evidence  of  the  same  kind  is  given  us  by  the  Arabs.  Thus 
Abou  Zeyd  Hassan  of  Siraf  speaks  of  Nazarenes  as  still 
numerous  among  the  people  of  Khanfu  down  to  the  sack  of 
878,  and  records  how  Ibn  Yahab,  his  contemporary  and 
informant,  had  been  shown  a picture  of  “ Jesus,  the  Son  of 
Mary,  and  His  Apostles,”  by  the  Chinese  emperor  a little 
time  before.  On  the  same  occasion  (about  a.d.  875),  the 
Arab  visitor  and  his  royal  host  discussed  the  stories  of  the 
various  prophets  from  Noah  to  Mohammed,  and  the  emperor 
seemed  well  aware  of  the  shortness  of  Christ’s  ministry,1 
and  other  things,  which  one  would  suppose  he  must  have 
learnt  from  native  Christians. 

By  the  ninth  century  the  Nestorian  Communion  had 
perhaps  reached  the  height  of  its  power.  Ever  since  the 
days  of  J esu- J abus,  who  speaks  especially  of  Merv  as  a “ fall- 
ing Church  ” (c.  A.D.  650),  the  patriarchs  had  had  to  deplore 
a slow  but  steady  defection  of  the  Faithful  to  Islam,  although 
they  generally  speak  of  the  kindly  and  tolerant  behaviour 
of  their  Mohammedan  rulers.2  The  Moslem  conquest  did 
not  depress  them  in  Western  Asia,  as  it  depressed  the 
Catholics  of  Syria  and  Africa.  The  Nestorians  were  in  high 
favour  with  the  Abbasside  caliphs  as  their  guides  to  the 

1 “ All  He  did  was  transacted  in  I p.  420  of  this  volume, 
the  space  of  . . . thirty  months.”  See  | 2 See  Assemani,  III.  i.  130,  131. 


220  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

Greek  treasures  of  science  and  letters ; and  although  they 
■could  not  proselytize  from  Mussulmans,  they  made  many 
converts  from  among  the  conquered  fire-worshippers,  as  well 
as  from  the  idolaters  beyond  the  Caliphate. 

In  850  we  find  the  line  of  metropolitans  still  continuing 
in  China,  India,  Merv,  and  Arabia  ; for  these  distant  prelates 
are  now  excused,  with  others,  from  attending  the  central 
oouncils  of  the  Nestorian  Church  in  Mesopotamia,  on  account 
of  the  length  and  difficulties  of  their  various  journeys. 
They  could  not  be  expected,  it  was  said,  to  come  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth  to  Bagdad  every  four  years. 

But  in  the  course  of  the  ninth  century  this  widespread 
activity  began  to  be  seriously  checked : on  the  one  side,  the 
spread  of  Islam  tended  more  and  more  to  contract  the  area 
still  left  open  in  the  home-field  of  Persia  and  the  Levant ; 
on  another  side,  in  both  the  great  mission  off-shoots  of 
India  and  China,  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  broke  vainly 
on  the  stubborn  wall  of  native  distrust  and  local  custom. 
The  domestic  disorders  of  878,  and  subsequent  years,  pro- 
duced a great  change  in  the  spirit  of  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment towards  alien  importations  of  all  kinds.  The  baleful 
effects  of  civil  war  were  attributed  to  foreign  devilry,  and, 
in  the  course  of  the  next  century,  Chinese  Christianity 
became  almost  extinct.  As  early  as  845,  the  Emperor 
Wutsung  dealt  it  a heavy  blow  by  his  ordinance  against 
excessive  monasticism,  both  Buddhist  and  other;  when  he 
ordered  that  all  the  foreign  bonzes,  Christian,  Magian,  and 
other,  should  return  to  secular  life,  and  cease  to  pervert  the 
institutions  of  the  Central  Flowery  Land.  It  was  little 
more  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  Revolution  of  878, 
that  the  scene  closes  for  a time  upon  the  Chinese  episode 
in  this  early  missionary  travel,  and  the  last  word,  it  is 
significant,  has  to  be  spoken  by  an  Arab.  In  a.d.  987 


V.] 


DECLINE  OF  NESTORIAN  ACTIVITY. 


221 


Mohammed  Ibn  Ishak,  surnamed  Abulfaragius,  author  of 
a celebrated  Bibliography  (the  Kitab-al-Fihrist),  tells  how 
he  met  with  a Christian  monk  from  Raj  ran,  behind  the 
principal  Church  of  Bagdad,  who  had  been  sent  to  the 
Celestials  seven  years  before,  but  had  returned  in  despair  on 
finding  but  one  person  of  his  faith  still  extant  in  the  land. 

Yet,  till  the  eleventh  century,  the  Nestorian  worship 
retained  a great  hold  over  many  parts  of  Asia,  between  tha 
Euphrates  and  the  Gobi  Desert,  and  its  ministers  seem  to 
have  travelled  incessantly,  wherever  we  can  catch  a glimpse 
of  their  history.  Here  and  there  have  been  preserved  the 
name  and  the  journey  of  one  of  their  spiritual  envoys — of 
John  of  Mosul,  sent  as  metropolitan  to  Hamadan  in  the 
ninth  century ; of  Mark,  despatched  to  Raja  in  893 ; of 
Joseph,  “Metropolitan  of  Turkestan,”  a.d.  900;  or  of  John 
and  Sabar- Jesus,  Metropolitans  of  Kashgar  at  the  same 
epoch:  but  this  is  all, — and  from  such  fragments  it  is 
impossible  to  construct  a connected  story. 

When  Marco  Polo  crossed  Asia  in  the  later  thirteenth 
century,  he  found  the  Nestorian  missions,  existing  indeed,, 
but  on  a very  slender  scale  beyond  the  Bolor, — in  Yarkand, 
in  Tangut,  in  Kamul,  and  in  various  places  of  China  itself. 
As  a matter  of  fact,  this  struggling  Christianity  had  begun 
to  raise  its  head  afresh  under  the  tolerant  and  inquisitive 
Mongol  rulers,  who,  like  the  early  caliphs,  took  many  a 
lesson  in  science  from  their  Kestorian  subjects ; 1 yet  this 
revival  was  but  partial,  as  we  shall  see  in  its  place.  Here 
we  must  not  enter  upon  the  later  traditions,  lying  as  they 
do  outside  this  period,2  which  attest  the  continued,  though 


1 Whom  Albyrouny(c.  a.d.  1000),  in 

his  “ Chronology  of  Ancient  Nations” 
(pp.  282,  306,  in  Sachau’s  edition), 
praises  for  their  mental  activity,  and 


especially  for  their  use  of  logic  and 
analogy. 

2 Circ.  a.d.  300-900. 


222 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


declining  life  of  Nestorian  enterprise ; and  which  tell  us  of 
the  conversion,  in  a.d.  1008,  of  a Tartar  chieftain,1  who 
perhaps  was  the  Asiatic  original  of  the  story  of  Prester 
John ; or  of  the  twenty-five  metropolitans  still  subject  to  the 
patriarch  in  the  same  eleventh  century.2  The  Pontificate 
of  Timothy  (778-820)  apparently  marked  the  zenith  of 
Nestorianism  in  nearly  every  field;  and  it  never  raised 
another  monument  of  success  like  the  Tablet  of  Singanfu.3 

In  all,  however,  taking  one  time  with  another,  it  had 
four  Metropolitan  sees  in  China,  or  Mongolia,  of  which 
Singanfu,  Zeytun,  and  Pekin  were  the  chief;4  one  in 
Malabar ; four  in  Central  Asia,  between  the  Oxus  and  the 
Gobi  desert ; five  or  six  in  the  Levant  proper,  west  of  the 
Zagros  Mountains  and  the  Tigris;  eleven  or  twelve  in 
Persia,  and  one  at  least  (Socotra)  on  the  East  African  coast. 
Its  adherents,  in  the  Age  of  Charles  the  Great,  must  have 
been  numbered  by  millions ; — probably  a greater  following 


1 By  Ebed- Jesus,  Metropolitan  of 
Kborasan. 

2 Neale’s  “ Eastern  Church,”  gen. 
introd.  i.  143-146,  conjectures  this 
period  to  have  been  the  culmination 
of  Nestorian  power — surely  not  a 
well-founded  view. 

3 When  Layard  visited  the  valley 
of  Jelu  in  Kurdistan  (see  his  “ Nine- 
veh and  Babylon,”  p.  433)  he  was 
shown  in  an  old  Nestorian  church,  a 
number  of  China  bowls,  blackened 
with  age  and  smoke  and  dust,  hang- 
ing from  the  roof.  These  he  was 
told  had  been  brought  from  Cathay 
in  very  early  times ; possibly  they 
reached  back  to  the  age  of  the 
Singanfu  inscription.  On  the  whole 
subject  of  the  Nestorian  missions,  see 
Assemani,  “Bibl.  Orient.,”  iii.,  pt. 
ii.  pp.  77-175,  413-617  passim,  the 
•chief  collection  of  material.  Also 

his  “De  Catholicis  seu  Patriarchis 


. . . Nestorianum  Commentarius  ” 
(Rome,  1675) Mosheim’s  “Memoirs 
of  the  Church  in  China  ” (1862) ; and 
Hue,  Yule  (Cathay,  Friar  Jordanus, 
and  Marco  Polo),  Gibbon’s  references 
and  other  studies,  as  cited.  L.  A. 
W addell,  “ Buddhism  in  Thibet  ” 
(especially  pp.  421,  422),  considers  it 
certain,  from  grounds  other  than  the 
Nestorian  records,  that  Christian 
communities  existed  in  West  China, 
near  the  borders  of  Thibet,  in  the 
seventh  century,  where  Marco  Polo 
found  some  survivors  in  the  thir- 
teenth. 

* Otherwise  Kambaluc,  with  which 
Zeytun  disputed  primacy;  cf.  Asse- 
mani, B.  O.  ii.  458,  459;  Robertson, 
Ch.  Hist.  vol.  iii. ; and  Yule’s  “ Ca- 
thay,” Prelim.  Essay,  § 6 ; and  espe- 
cially his  map  of  the  Nestorian 
bishoprics,  and  Supplem.  Note,  pp. 
eexliv.,  ccxlv. 


Y.]  DISTRIBUTION  OF  NESTORIAN  MISSION-SEES.  223 

then  looked  up  to  the  patriarch  of  Bagdad  than  to  any 
Catholic  pontiff ; and  the  scope  of  its  activity  was,  beyond 
comparison,  more  widespread. 

Cosmas,  who  was  possibly  a Nestorian  himself,  describes 
the  vast  extent  of  an  Oriental  Christianity,  which  can  hardly 
have  been  any  other  than  Hestorianism,  at  a time  when  from 
other  sources  we  know  that  these  missions  were  in  a flourish- 
ing state  (c.  550).  Churches  were  then  to  be  found,  he 
declares,  in  Ceylon,  Malabar,  and  Socotra  (with  a bishop 
and  clergy  “ ordained  and  sent  from  Persia  ”) ; in  Bactria  and 
among  the  Huns ; in  Mesopotamia,  Scythia,  Hyrcania, 
Lazica,  and  the  lands  to  the  east  of  the  Black  Sea, — as  well  as 
in  all  the  countries  where  more  orthodox  communion1 
existed.  He  is,  indeed,  passing  in  review  the  whole  of 
Christendom,  from  “ Southern  Gades,”  or  Ceuta,  to  Central 
Asia,  and  from  the  Indian  Ocean  to  the  Caspian ; and  he  says 
not  a word  of  any  difference  of  creed  between  the  Franks  and 
the  most  outlying  Christian  Churches ; but  his  purpose  is 
only  to  set  forth  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  that  the 
gospel  should  be  proclaimed  in  every  district  under  heaven, 
and  it  was  not  in  such  an  ecstasy  that  he  would  call  attention 
to  the  rents  and  divisions  of  the  once  seamless  garment. 

He  had  reason  to  exult.  For  perhaps  never  before  or 
after  was  Christianity  of  one  kind  or  another  so  widely 
spread  in  the  Old  World — the  world  of  Europe,  of  Asia,  and 
of  Africa — as  in  his  day. 

The  bearing  of  these  Eastern  missions  on  geography  is 
obvious  enough.  Had  they  left  a fair  account  of  themselves 
men’s  knowledge  of  the  world  could  not  but  have  been 
strengthened  and  deepened.  But  in  the  West,  the  limits  of 
the  old  Empire  were  far  more  nearly  coextensive  with  the 


1 Bk.  iii.  and  bk.  xi.  (esp.  p.  178, 
Montf.).  Cf.  Assemani,  De  Oath. 
Nestor ; il  Bibl.  Orient.,”  ii.  458,  459. 


In  893  Elias,  Metropolitan  of  Damas- 
cus, reckoned  thirteen  metropolitan 
sees.  See  p.  242. 


224  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

limits  of  terra  firma,  and  it  is  not  till  the  ninth  century  and 
the  journeys  of  Ansgar  in  the  Scandinavian  and  North 
German  lands  that  Latin  missionary  travel  does  much  for 
the  exploration  of  the  unknown  or  forgotten. 

But  Ulphilas  among  the  Goths  and  Patrick  among  the 
Celtic  Irish  were  the  pioneers  of  this  religious  discovery  at 
a far  earlier  time. 

Ulphilas,  who,  as  early  as  340,  appears  as  a Christian 
teacher  to  his  own  people  beyond  the  Danube,  died  in  381, 
within  the  limits  which  had  so  long  been  fixed  for  the 
Roman  civilisation.  But  his  translation  of  the  Bible  pre- 
pared the  way  for  missionary  enterprise  to  penetrate  among 
the  heathen  of  Central  Europe ; and  by  his  work  the  con- 
querors of  Adrianople  (378)  were  made  more  accessible  to 
civilising  influences  and  more  unlikely  to  destroy  the 
Mediterranean  culture ; which  included  of  course  all  th& 
geographical  knowledge  hitherto  put  together,  with  such, 
tedious  and  painful  toil. 

Again,  Patrick’s  conversion  of  Ireland  (c.  430)  opened  to 
Christendom  a country  that  had  never  been  Roman,  and 
was  practically  unknown  to  Continental  Europe  after 
Honorius  withdrew  his  legions  from  Britain  (c.  409).  Mer- 
chants had  found  their  way  to  its  shores  in  the  second 
century,  and  Ptolemy  had  a fair  notion  of  its  harbours  and 
its  general  shape,  but  the  full  discovery  of  the  island  was 
the  work  of  Christian  missionaries.  More  than  that,  Patrick 
had  only  been  dead  a century,  when  the  Irish  themselves,, 
with  a fervour  like  that  of  the  early  Saracens,  took  up  a vast 
mission  work  of  their  own.  A wedge  of  heathendom  had 
thrust  itself  in  upon  Britain  and  the  Continent,  when  the 
Catholics  of  Italy  and  France  were  joined  by  these  new 
allies.  To  Rome  their  help,  independent  and  self-reliant  as 
it  was,  proved  embarrassing;  and  after  a time  the  two' 


V.]  IRISH  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  225 

Churches  began  to  struggle  for  the  allegiance  of  North- 
Western  Europe : but  to  Christendom,  and  to  progress  in 
general,  they  were  true  pioneers.  They  preached  with 
striking  success  among  the  English  who  had  overrun  all 
the  eastern  plains  of  Britain.1  Their  cause  triumphed  at 
last  over  the  enmity  of  the  Midlands  and  of  Penda.  They 
carried  the  gospel  further  into  Caledonia  than  Agricola  had 
ever  carried  the  Roman  eagles.  They  sent  their  more 
daring  devotees  to  the  Orkneys,  the  Faroes,  and  even  to 
Iceland.  They  founded  houses  of  learning  and  religion 
in  North  Italy,  in  Burgundy,  in  Switzerland,  and  in  Bavaria.2 
Their  influence  was  felt  in  every  Christian  or  semi-Christian 
country,  and  in  many  lands  outside  the  pale  of  the  shrunken 
Church  of  the  seventh  century. 

Further,  they  developed  an  art,  a literature,  a culture  of 
their  own  which,  with  all  its  fantasies,  had  extraordinary 
beauty  and  merit,  if  it  is  judged  by  its  age  and  its  oppor- 
tunities— or  its  lack  of  them ; and  among  these  memorials  of 
a noble  fight  with  barbarism  we  have  left  to  us  at  least  two,3 
which  have  direct  and  useful  relation  both  with  the  history 
of  travel  and  the  science  of  geography. 

The  most  brilliant  work  of  the  Irish  missions  was  done  in 
one  hundred  years  (560-660)  ; but  it  was  kept  up  in  a sense 
for  five  centuries,  and  for  at  least  half  that  time  it  is  worth 
our  notice,  if  we  would  attend  to  anything  which  helped  to 
keep  the  world  from  getting  darker. 

St.  Columba  crossed  from  Ireland  to  Iona  in  560 ; and 
with  this  begins  the  new  Celtic  enterprise  and  travel.  In 
565  he  converted  the  King  of  the  Piets,  Brude  or  Bruidi, 


1 Of.  Bede,  Hist.  Eccl.,  bks.  iii.  iv. 
v.,  passim. 

2 Those  of  Bobbio  and  St.  Gall 

became  especially  valuable,  from 
their  scholarship,  which  prompted 


collections  of  manuscripts  hardly 
equalled  in  any  monastic  library  of 
the  Dark  Ages. 

3 Dicuil  and  Virgil. 


Q 


226 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


in  his  royal  town  on  the  site  of  Inverness ; and  from  this 
point  he  spread  the  Christian  faith  through  the  most 
northerly  parts  of  Britain.  He  even  despatched  a party  of 
his  monks  to  convert  the  Orkneys,  of  which  Bruidi  was 
overlord.  “Some  of  our  brethren,”  he  announced  to  his 
powerful  convert,  “ have  lately  sailed  to  discover  a desert  in 
the  pathless  sea.1  If  they  should  wander  to  the  Orcadian 
islands,  do  thou  shield  them  from  harm.” 

On  the  other  side,  to  the  south  and  south-east,  Columba’s 
followers  travelled  into  the  English  kingdoms,  saved  the 
Christianity  of  Northumbria  after  the  overthrow  of  Eadwine 
(633),  and  made  themselves,  in  the  course  of  the  next  genera- 
tion, the  religious  teachers  of  all  the  English  race  north  of 
the  Thames.  Beyond  the  Channel,  Columban  reached  as 
far  as  Bobbio  and  the  Apennines  in  his  missionary  wander- 
ings ; and  was  celebrated  as  the  Apostle  of  the  Juras,  and 
the  Elijah  of  the  two  Frankish  Jezebels,  Brunehaut  and 
Fredegund  (600-615).  St.  Gall  in  Switzerland,  where  he 
drove  out  the  spirits  of  the  lakes  and  mountains  over  the 
Boden  See  (600-627) ; St.  Catald  in  the  south  of  Italy  ; St. 
Fridolin  in  Glarus ; St.  Colman  in  Austria,  St.  Kilian  in 
Franconia, — all  of  these  and  many  others,  in  the  sixth  and 
seventh  centuries,  followed  up  the  exploring  achievements  of 
Columban.  Even  the  devils  were  subject  unto  them.  “ Come 
and  help  me,”  one  demon  was  heard  crying  to  another  over 
the  Lake  of  Constance,  “ help  me  to  break  the  nets  of  these 
strangers,  for  they  are  too  hard  for  me.”  2 And  while  they 
pressed  heathendom  so  vigorously,  these  Irish  missionaries 
seemed  to  think  of  wresting  from  Rome  the  religious  leader- 
ship she  was  doing  so  little  to  assert.3  They  would  not  wait 
for  a pope’s  commission  to  journey  and  to  evangelise. 

1 Adamnan’s  Life  of  Columba,  ed.  3 Between  St.  Leo  and  St.  Gregory, 

Reeves,  p.  366.  c.  a.d.  450-600. 

2 Life  of  St.  Gall. 


V.]  IRISH  MISSION-TRAVEL  TO  FAROES  AND  ICELAND.  227 

Columban  bluntly  told  Gregory  the  Great,  when  he  quoted 
the  words  of  Pope  Leo  I.,  that  a living  dog  was  better  than 
a dead  lion.  The  Celts  had  given  way  to  Bomans  and 
Teutons  on  the  battle-field  and  in  civil  life  ; was  their  turn 
now  to  come  in  the  religious  moulding  of  the  new  nations  ? 

Time  was  to  show  that  enthusiasm,  in  the  long  run,  must 
yield,  even  in  the  Church,  to  the  power  of  governing  and  of 
organising;  that  the  emotional  cannot  rule  the  stronger 
and  more  persistent  elements  of  human  nature : but  this 
intensely  emotional  movement  of  Irish  missionary  energy 
did  not  pass  away  without  leaving  some  permanent  results. 

In  geographical  discovery,  the  hermit-instinct,  to  which 
we  have  had  an  allusion  in  Columba’s  words — the  longing  to 
fly  from  men,  and  discover  a desert  in  the  ocean,  where  God 
only  might  be  served — was  responsible  for  the  first  voyages 
to  the  Faroes,  and  to  Iceland. 

Writing  in  825,  in  one  of  those  Irish  monastery  schools 1 
which  had  welcomed  learning  as  it  fled  from  the  new  bar- 
barism of  the  Continent,  and  thus  become  “ Universities  of 
the  West,”  Dicuil  stops  his  description  of  the  earth’s 
measurements  and  marvels,  to  tell  us  about  the  latest  of 
these  ventures.3/  Thirty  years  before,  he  says,  in  the  year 
of  Christ  795,  a party  of  his  countrymen,  solitaries,  or  in 
search  of  solitude,  visited  “ Thule,”  and  stayed  there  from 
the  first  of  February  to  the  first  of  August.  Unlike  the 
hermit  of  the  East,  to  whom  all  nature — human  and  other — 
seemed  full  of  hidden  or  open  devilry,  and  who  therefore 
hated  and  feared  every  kind  of  useful  knowledge — these 
Irishmen  noticed  things  that  a geographer,  like  Dicuil 
himself,  found  very  interesting.  They  said  that  in  the 
island  they  discovered  the  setting  sun,  during  that  summer, 

1 Such  as  Durrow  or  Armagh.  I 11-13  (ed.  Parthey,  1870). 

2 De  Mensura  Orbis  Terrse,  vii.  | 


228 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Cii. 


“ not  only  at  the  solstice,  but  for  many  days  in  the  year, 
seemed  merely  to  hide  itself  behind  a little  mound,  so  that 
there  was  no  darkness  to  hide  a man  from  doing  what  he 
liked,  even  from  picking  lice  out  of  his  clothes.” 1 

They  thought,  indeed,  if  they  had  been  on  top  of  a 
mountain,  they  would  never  have  lost  sight  of  the  sun  at 
all.2  From  this  Dicuil  was  disposed  to  believe  that  the  exact 
opposite  occurred  in  winter — not  indeed  for  half  the  year, 
but  just  as  in  summer,  for  a few  days  before  and  after  the 
solstice.  About  the  sea  round  Thule,  the  brethren  reported 
it  was  not  frozen,  as  had  been  falsely  said — even  of  more 
southern  latitudes.  At  the  end  of  January  they  had  found 
it  perfectly  open ; but  on  going  one  day’s  sail  to  the  north, 
they  had  come  to  the  ice-wall.3 

These  were  not  the  only  Arctic  explorations  of  Irish 
saints.  Dicuil  tells  us  nothing  about  the  legendary,  yet 
possibly  not  altogether  fictitious,  voyages  of  St.  Brandan ; but 
he  knew  of  many  journeys  among  the  islands  to  the  north 
and  West  of  Britain.  Some  of  these,  he  was  informed — 
probably  the  Faroes — were  two  days’  sail  from  the  “ northern 
islands  ” of  the  same  Britain,  and  a “ certain  priest  who  was 
also  a monk  ” had  come  in  two  summer  days  and  a night 
to  one  of  the  aforesaid.  To  Dicuil’s  own  knowledge, 
“ Scottish  ” hermits  had  frequented  such  solitudes  for  nearly 
a hundred  years  (c.  750-820).  From  the  creation  of  the 
world  these  had  lain  waste  without  inhabitant,  and  now  (by 
825)  the  Northmen  had  desolated  them  afresh.  It  was 
wonderful  that  no  record  had  ever  been  made  of  them 
before.  And  other  islands  there  are,  proceeds  the  geo- 
grapher, around  Britain  and  around  Ireland : some  he  had 
visited  himself;  all  of  them  he  knew  by  hearsay  or  by 

1 “Peduculos  de  camisia  abstra-  I 2 D.,  vii.  11-13. 

here.”  | 3 D.,  vii.  14.  Cf.  Solinus,  xxii.  9. 


V.] 


IRISH  GEOGRAPHY:  DICUIL  AND  VIRGIL. 


229 


reading,  and  he  could  not  compare  the  Irish  satellites  with 
the  British — for  the  first-named  were  mere  rocks,  while  the 
latter  made  a far  better  show.  The  Hebrides  are  certainly 
larger  and  more  habitable  than  the  Skerries  or  the  Blaskets. 

Dicuil’s  story  of  the  pilgrimage  of  Eidelis  to  the  Levant 
has  been  already  noticed;  in  connection  with  this  it  is 
curious  to  see  how  many  recondite  and  unconvincing  but 
suggestive  evidences  have  been  collected  by  Irish  anti- 
quarians to  prove  an  intercourse  between  Syria  and  Ireland 
in  this  age.  The  schools  of  the  younger  Church  were 
modelled,  it  is  said,  after  the  Laura  of  the  older ; and  the 
cell-buildings  of  the  Eastern  monks  were  exactly  copied  in 
various  Celtic  monasteries.1  But  this  question  is  architectural 
in  the  main,  and  of  extreme  obscurity. 

What  Irishmen  did  for  the  theory  of  geography  will  be 
examined  in  the  next  chapter,  in  a view  of  the  science  of  the 
whole  period.  We  have  seen  something  already  of  Dicuil, 
and  how  much  he  contributed  to  knowledge  by  the  accounts 
he  preserved  of  practical  travel ; we  shall  have  to  add  some 
appreciation  of  another  “ Scot,” 2 Yirgil,  the  bishop  of 
Saltzburg  (a.d.  750-784),  who  dared  to  prefer  the  guidance 
of  pagan  Creeks  to  that  of  St.  Augustine  in  forming  a 
doctrine  of  the  world’s  shape,  and  ignored  the  axioms  of 
Cosmas  against  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  and  the  existence 
of  antipodes.  He  was,  indeed,  rebuked  and  silenced  by  the 
pope,  but  in  this  he  only  shared  the  fate  of  Roger  Bacon. 


1 Cf.  G.  T.  Stokes  (“  Ireland  and 
the  Celtic  Church,”  lect.  xii.),  Dun- 
raven’s  “Notes  on  Irish  Architecture,” 
and  De  Vogue’s  “ Syrie  Centrale.” 

2 Virgil  hadn’t  learnt,  says  Rev.  G. 
T.  Stokes,  in  his  excellent  lectures 
(“  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,”  p. 
224),  the  secret  of  all  safe  and  most 
successful  men,  never  to  startle  one’s 
hearers  by  advocating  any  novel  or 


unpopular  view, — a curious  doctrine 
for  the  minister  of  a religion  which 
was  once,  in  Pilate’s  Prsetorium  and 
in  the  Roman  amphitheatre,  both 
novel  and  unpopular— and  certainly 
professes,  even  now,  to  teach  a body 
of  truth  rather  than  a body  of  con- 
ventionalities. But  certainly  neither 
Christ  nor  St.  Paul  would  have  been 
called  safe  or  successful  by  the  Jews. 


230  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

It  remains  to  see  whether  Brandan  and  his  story  adds 
anything  real  to  the  credit  of  Irish  explorers.  Like  St. 
Malo,  the  Abbot  of  Clonfert  is  still  supposed  by  many  to 
have  made  some  genuine  discovery  of  land  in  the  Western 
or  Northern  Ocean  about  A.d.  565.  There  is  nothing  to 
prevent  us  believing  that  he  may  have  sighted  one  of  the 
outlying  Hebrides,  or  even  the  Faroes ; but  a voyage  to 
America,  Iceland,  or  Greenland  is  quite  out  of  the  question, 
and  yet  there  is  no  nearer  land  to  account  for  the  legend, 
unless  it  be  Rockall  Island,  a speck  of  firm  ground  planted, 
like  St.  Helena  on  Ascension,  in  the  mid-ocean,  without  any 
attendant  group,  about  150  miles  north-west  of  Donegal. 
In  itself,  a voyage  like  Bran  dan’s  is  possible,  but  the  tradition 
is  late  and  closely  connected  with  fable,  of  a venerable  but 
not  the  less  childish  kind ; such  as  it  is,  it  does  not  perhaps 
forbid  us  to  look  in  the  south  for  his  discovery — among  the 
Azores,  the  Canaries,  or  the  Madeira  group.  But  the  legend 
cannot  really  be  verified  or  disproved.  We  are  in  absolutely 
uncertain  and  fabulous  regions,  as  much  as  when  we  try  to 
follow  the  journeys  of  the  three  Calendars  in  the  Arabian 
Nights.  We  may  feel  it  likely  that  a germ  of  truth  exists 
in  a body  of  unsubstantial  romance,  but  we  cannot  extract 
it ; for  we  are  uncertain  in  what  part  of  the  tale  to  detect 
the  historical  fact,  or  even  if  such  fact  is  to  be  discerned  at 
all.  The  balance  of  likelihood  is  almost  even,  and  we  can 
only  be  sure  of  one  thing — that  the  floating  or  vanishing 
island,1  which  many  a man  of  later  time  was  said  to  have 
found  and  chased  in  vain,  is  a myth.  Down  to  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  in  the  sixteenth  century,  Brandan’s  isle  was 
marked  on  maps,  usually  due  west  of  Ireland ; it  was  sighted 
again  and  again  by  determined  and  devout  people  who  went 
out  to  look  for  it ; it  was  associated  with  similar  discoveries 
1 Cf.  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  Spec.  Hist.  xxii.  81. 


Y.]  THE  LEGENDARY  IRISH  VOYAGES  : ST.  BRANDAN.  231 

of  St.  Malo  in  the  sixth  century,  of  the  seven  Spanish 
bishops  in  the  eighth,  of  the  Basques  in  the  tenth ; on  the 
success  of  Columbus,  it  was  turned,  of  course,  like  the  rest, 
into  a claim  for  a prior  discovery  of  America : but  it  began 
in  twelfth-century  poetry  or  poetic  hagiology,  and  it 
obstinately  remains  in  a poetic  mirage.1  It  gives  us, 
perhaps,  a picture  of  the  shuddering  interest  of  these 
missionary  travellers  in  the  wildness,  the  power,  and  the 
infinitude  of  nature,  as  it  could  be  tasted  on  the  ocean ; it 
does  not  give  us  anything  more  definite. 

/ In  its  complete  form,  the  legend  gave  this  account. 
Brandan  was  an  Irish  monk  who  died  on  May  16,  578,  in 
the  abbey  of  Clonfert,  which  he  had  founded.  One  day, 
when  entertaining  a brother  monk  named  Barinth,  he  was 
told  by  him  of  his  recent  voyage  on  the  Ocean,  and  of  an 
isle  called  the  Delicious,  where  his  disciple  Mernoc  had 
retired  with  several  religious  men.  Barinth  had  been  to 
visit  him,  and  Mernoc  had  taken  him  to  a more  distant  isle 
in  the  West,  which  was  reached  through  a thick  fog,  beyond 
which  shone  an  eternal  clearness — this  was  the  promised 
Land  of  the  Saints.  Brandan,  seized  with  a pious  desire 
1 Cf.  Matthew  Arnold’s  “ St.  Brandan  ” : — 

“ Saint  Brandan  sails  the  Northern  Main, 

The  brotherhood  of  saints  are  glad. 

He  greets  them  once,  he  sails  again  : 

So  late ! such  storms ! the  saint  is  mad ! 

He  heard  across  the  howling  seas 

Chime  convent  bells  on  wintry  nights ; 

He  saw,  on  spray-swept  Hebrides, 

Twinkle  the  monastery  lights : 

But  north,  still  north,  Saint  Brandan  steered, 

And  now  no  bells,  no  convents  more, 

The  hurtling  Polar  lights  are  reached, 

The  sea  without  a human  shore.” 

For  a discussion  of  the  later  mediaeval  evidence  on  this  point  of  “ The 
Legendary  Western  Voyages” — and  its  worthlessness — we  must  refer  to  the 
monograph  of  M.  de  Goeje  and  other  studies,  as  cited  on  p.  239,  note  2. 


232 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


to  see  this  Isle  of  the  Blessed,  embarked  in  an  osier  boat 
covered  with  tanned  hides  and  carefully  greased,  and  took 
with  him  seventeen  other  monks,  among  whom  was  St.  Malo, 
then  a young  man.  After  forty  days  at  sea  they  reached 
an  island  with  steep  scarped  sides,  furrowed  by  streamlets, 
where  they  received  hospitality,1  and  took  in  fresh  pro- 
visions. 

Thence  they  were  carried  by  the  winds  towards  another 
island,  cut  up  by  rivers  that  were  full  of  fish,  and  covered 
with  countless  flocks  of  sheep  as  large  as  heifers.  From 
these  they  took  a lamb  without  blemish  wherewith  to 
celebrate  the  Easter  festival  on  another  island  close  by, 
— bare,  without  vegetation  or  rising  ground.  Here  they 
landed  to  cook  their  lamb,  but  no  sooner  had  they  set  the 
pot  and  lighted  the  fire  than  the  island  began  to  move. 
They  fled  to  their  ship,  where  St.  Brandan  had  stayed ; and 
he  showed  them  that  what  they  had  taken  for  a solid  island, 
was  nothing  but  a whale.2  They  regained  the  former  isle 
(of  sheep)  and  saw  the  fire  they  had  kindled,  flaming  upon 
the  monster’s  back,  two  miles  off. 

From  the  summit  of  the  island  they  had  now  returned 
to,  they  discerned  another,  wooded  and  fertile;  whither 
they  repaired,  and  found  a multitude  of  birds,  who  sang 
with  them  the  praises  of  the  Lord : this  was  the  Paradise 
of  Birds.  Here  the  Pious  travellers  remained  till  Pentecost, 
then,  again  embarking,  they  wandered  several  months  upon 
the  Ocean.  At  last  they  came  to  another  isle,  inhabited 
by  Coenobites,  who  had  for  their  patrons  St.  Patrick  and 
St.  Ailbhe ; with  these  they  celebrated  Christmas,  and  took 
ship  again  after  the  Octave  of  the  Epiphany. 


1 In  a deserted  palace,  from  angelic 
hands,  by  one  account. 

2 “The  beast  Jasconius  (in  one 
version),  greatest  of  things  that  swim, 


which  laboureth  night  and  day  to 
put  his  tail  in  his  mouth,  but  for 
greatness  he  may  not.” 


THE  BRANDAN  STORY. 


233 


V.] 

A year  had  passed  in  these  journeys,  and  during  the 
next  six  they  continued  the  same  round  with  certain  varia- 
tions (such  as  their  visit  to  the  island  of  the  Hermit  Paul,1 
and  their  meeting  with  J udas  Iscariot) ; finding  themselves 
always  at  St.  Patrick’s  Isle  for  Christmas,  at  the  Isle  of 
Sheep  for  Holy  Week,  on  the  Back  of  the  Whale  (which 
now  displayed  no  uneasiness)  for  Easter,  and  at  the  Isle  of 
Birds  for  Pentecost. 

But  during  the  seventh  year,  especial  trials  were  reserved 
for  them;  they  were  nearly  destroyed  by  a whale,  by  a 
gryphon,  by  Cyclops.  But  they  also  saw  several  other 
islands.  One  was  large  and  wooded ; another  flat,  with  great 
red  fruit,  inhabited  by  a race  called  the  Strong  Men; 
-another  full  of  rich  orchards,  the  trees  bending  beneath 
their  load ; and  to  the  north  they  came  to  the  rocky,  tree- 
less, barren  island  of  the  Cyclops’  forges ; close  by  which  was 
a lofty  mountain  with  summit  veiled  in  clouds,  vomiting 
flames — this  was  the  mouth  of  hell. 

And  now  as  the  end  of  their  attempt  had  come,  they 
embarked  afresh  with  provisions  for  forty  days,  entered  the 
zone  of  mist  and  darkness  which  enclosed  the  Isle  of  Saints, 
and,  having  traversed  it,  found  themselves  on  the  shore  of 
the  island  they  had  so  long  been  seeking,  bathed  in  light. 
This  was  an  extensive  land,  sown  as  it  were  with  precious 
stones,  covered  with  fruit  as  in  the  season  of  autumn,  and 
enjoying  perpetual  day.  Here  they  stayed  and  explored 
the  abode  of  the  blest  for  forty  days,  without  reaching  the 
end  of  it.  But  at  last,  on  arriving  at  a great  river,  that 
flowed  through  the  midst  of  it,  an  angel  appeared  to  them 
to  tell  them  they  could  go  no  further,  and  that  they  must 
return  to  their  country;  bearing  with  them  some  of  the 

1 A little  round  and  barren  island,  I hermit  who  gave  them  his  bene- 
on  the  summit  of  which  dwelt  the  | diction. 


234 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


fruits  and  precious  stones  of  the  land,  reserved  to  the  saints 
against  that  time  when  God  should  have  subdued  to  the 
true  faith  all  the  nations  of  !the  universe.  St.  Brandan  and 
his  companions  again  entered  into  their  vessel,  traversed 
afresh  the  margin  of  darkness,  and  came  to  the  Island  of 
Delight.  Thence  they  returned  directly  to  Ireland.1 

This  is  the  legend  which  has  served  as  the  basis  of  th 
claim  for  an  Irish  or  British  discovery  of  America  in 
the  sixth  century,  and  upon  this  model  were  formed  the 
similar  tales  of  Western  voyages  by  the  seven  Spanish 
bishops  in  the  eighth  century,  or  by  the  Basques  of  the 
tenth. 

The  alleged  discovery  of  the  seven  bishops  is  associated 
with  the  names  of  Antiilia  and  the  Seven  Cities,  but  the 
earliest  form  of  the  latter  story  does  not  go  back  before 
the  year  1492;  when  Martin  Behaim  placed  the  following 
inscription  on  his  famous  globe  designed  for  the  city  of 
Nuremburg  in  that  ever-memorable  summer : “ In  the  year 
734,  after  the  birth  of  Christ,  when  all  Spain  was  overrun 
by  the  miscreants  of  Africa,  this  Island  of  Antiilia,  called 
also  the  Isle  of  the  Seven  Cities,  was  peopled  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Oporto  with  six  other  bishops,  and  certain 
companions,  male  and  female,  who  fled  from  Spain  with 
their  cattle  and  property.  In  the  year  1414  a Spanish  ship 
approached  very  near  this  Island.”  A somewhat  fuller 
account  is  given  by  Ferdinand  Columbus,  who  also  identifies 
the  names  of  Antiilia  and  Seven  Cities  as  referring  to  the 
same  spot,  but  dates  the  flight  from  Spain  in  a.d.  714,  and 
describes  how  a Portuguese  ship  professed  (but  with  highly 


1 In  the  twelfth  century  Sigebert 
de  Gemblours  found  these  marvels 
insufficient,  and  added  that  the  name 
of  the  isle  so  much  sought  for  was 
Ima;  that  St.  Malo  there  raised  a 


giant  to  life,  instructed  him  in  the 
true  faith,  and  baptized  him  under 
the  name  of  Mildus,  after  which 
he  allowed  him  to  die  again  imme- 
diately. 


V.] 


THE  BRANDAN  STORY. 


235 


suspicions  circumstances1)  to  have  discovered  the  colony- 
in  the  time  of  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator. 

The  first  remark  that  naturally  occurs  in  regard  to  the 
Brandan  story  and  its  imitations  is,  that  the  record  is  very 
late ; the  second  is,  that  it  shows  in  many  places  signs  of 
being  concocted  from  other  narratives.  In  other  words,  as 
to  the  first  point,  although  Brandan  is  supposed  to  have 
sailed  in  or  about  a.d.  565,  no  trace  is  found  of  his  story 
before  the  eleventh  century ; while,  as  to  the  next  matter, 
the  voyage  of  the  Moslem  Wanderers  (or  Maghrurins)  of 
Lisbon,  as  recorded  by  Edrisi,  and  those  of  Sindbad  the 
Sailor,  as  preserved  in  the  “Arabian  Nights,”  are  clearly 
related  in  some  way  to  the  Brandan  narrative.  This  can 
hardly  be  in  the  way  of  copy  to  original,  for  the  Christian 
record  is  undoubtedly  much  later  as  well  as  much  more 
fabulous  than  that,  for  instance,  of  the  ninth-century 
Soleyman  the  Merchant,  the  main  source  of  Sindbad;  or 
even  than  that  of  the  Lisbon  Wanderers,  whose  journey 
probably  took  place  at  some  time  before  a.d.  1000,  and 
who  certainly  appear  to  have  reached  some  of  the  West 
African  islands.  Their  adventure  belongs  to  a subsequent 
period  of  our  history,  but  we  may  notice  here  one  striking 
resemblance  of  their  story  with  the  Brandan  legend.  Their 
tradition  of  the  Isle  of  El  Grhanam 2 abounding  in  sheep, 
whose  flesh  had  a bitter  taste,  from  a herb  on  which  the 
animals  fed — does  not  this  recall  St.  Brandan’s  Island  of 
Eat  Sheep?  Once  more,  the  Arabic  Islands  of  El  Toyour 
(or  of  birds) ; of  the  Wizards,  Sherham  and  Shabram ; and 
of  the  whale  where  Sindbad’s  companions  kindled  a fire 


1 Thus  the  captain  was  unable  to 

offer  any  proofs  of  his  visit,  and 
when  the  prince  ordered  him  to 
return,  and  bring  home  more  certain 


intelligence,  he  promptly  took  to 
flight. 

2 Which  has  been  identified  with 
our  Madeira. 


236  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Oh. 

with  even  more  disastrous  results,  find  their  parallels  in 
St.  Brandan’s  Islands  of  Pious  Birds,  of  the  Solitary  Hermit, 
and  of  the  great  fish ; while  his  volcano,  or  Island  of 
Hell’s  Mouth,  and  his  Isles  of  Delights  and  of  Paradise 
are  traditional  expressions,  both  in  classical  and  mediaeval 
geography  (Arab  and  Christian),  for  the  fiery  mountain 
of  Teneriffe  and  the  lovely  climate  of  the  Canary  or 
Fortunate  Islands.  Even  the  Griffin  of  Brandan’s  story, 
and  the  whale  that  attacks  his  boat,  may  be  borrowed  from 
the  Koc  and  the  aggressive  sea-monsters  of  the  Sindbad 
Saga ; while  the  very  number  of  the  years  of  travel  in  the 
Christian  legend  correspond  to  the  sevenfold  ventures  of 
the  navigator  in  the  “ Arabian  Nights.”  In  the  case  of  the 
latter,  the  seven  years  of  travel  are  arrived  at  naturally 
enough  by  seven  successive  voyages ; in  the  case  of  Brandan, 
the  time  assigned  to  the  adventure  is  purely  arbitrary  and 
artificial,  as  would  be  the  case  in  a borrowed  narrative. 
There  is  no  reason  at  all  why  the  saint  should  not  reach 
the  Isle  of  Paradise  in  his  first  year’s  sail,  as  his  precursors 
Barinth  and  Mernoc  seem  to  have  done ; no  reason  why  he 
should  be  compelled  to  perform  his  curious  round  of  visits 
for  six  years  without  reaching  further;  except,  indeed,  the 
charming  explanation  of  a later  insertion 1 in  the  eleventh 
century  narrative,  that  Brandan  was  thus  punished  for 
having  disbelieved  and  destroyed  a book  of  marvellous 
stories  which  had  come  into  his  hands.  He  was  condemned 
to  wander,  according  to  this,  during  a sacred  cycle  of  years, 
till  he  should  have  seen  with  his  own  eyes  all  the  wonders 
he  had  refused  to  credit ; and, : as  a crowning  penance,  he 
was  forced  to  describe  them  for  the  instruction  of  others. 

As  we  might  expect  in  a narrative  so  made  up  of  borrowed 
details  as  Brandan’s  “ Navigation,”  the  inconsistencies  of  the 

1 Of  the  twelfth  century. 


V.] 


THE  BRANDAN  STORY. 


237 


story  are  not  merely  in  the  unreasonable  and  unexplained 
delay  of  the  saint  in  reaching  his  goal  in  the  Isle  of  Para- 
dise; the  Whale  Island  is  treated  in  an  entirely  different 
manner  in  the  first  and  the  subsequent  years ; in  the  one  it 
behaves  (as  in  the  Sindbad  story)  naturally  and  wickedly — it 
resents  the  fire  kindled  on  its  back,  and  tries  to  get  rid  of  its 
visitors;  but  in  all  following  years  it  shows  the  utmost 
docility,  puts  itself  completely  at  the  disposal  of  the  holy 
men,  allows  them  to  celebrate  their  services  on  its  back,  and 
charitably  conveys  them  to  the  Isle  of  Birds.  Again,  the 
Brandan  legend,  in  telling  us  of  this  same  Whale  Island, 
first  describes  it  as  barren,  and  then  alludes,  in  the  manner 
of  Sindbad,  to  the  woodland  growing  upon  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  conception  of  the  land  promised  to  the  saints,  as 
set  forth  in  the  “ Navigation,”  belongs  rather  to  a Christian, 
a European,  and,  more  narrowly,  a Northern  idea  of  Paradise 
than  to  anything  Oriental ; but,  in  the  main,  the  Brandan 
legend  is  penetrated  by  Eastern  influence.  We  may  see 
this  more  fully,  if  it  be  worth  while  to  multiply  instances,  in 
many  minor  details  of  the  “Navigation” — in  the  empty 
palace  which  Brandan  finds  in  his  first-discovered  island,  the 
devil 1 who  afterwards  comes  to  light  in  that  same  palace, 
the  soporific  spring  in  the  Isle  of  Birds,  and  the  speechless 
man 2 of  the  Isle  of  Ailbhe,  “ who  only  answered  by  ges- 
tures,” in  the  Christian  narrative,  compared  with  the  similar 
incidents  of  the  second  and  third  voyages  of  Sindbad. 
Again,  the  giants  who  threaten  both  the  Arab  and  Irish 
adventurers  by  aiming  huge  blocks  of  stone  at  their  frail 
vessels,  probably  come  into  both  narratives  from  the  Cyclops 
story  of  the  Odyssey;  the  river  and  precious  stones  in 
Brandan’s  Isle  of  Paradise  irresistibly  recall  the  charms  of 
the  island  in  the  sixth  Sindbad  voyage;  and  just  as  the 
1 The  Negro  Cannibal  of  the  Arab.  2 The  Old  Man  of  the  Sea. 


238  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch. 

latfter’s  companions  are  roasted  and  eaten  by  the  demon 
Black  of  Sindbad’s  third  adventure,  so  on  the  shore*  of  the 
Burning  Isle  one  of  Brandan’s  monks  is  caught  away  by 
devils,  and  burnt  up  to  a cinder. 

In  any  attempt,  therefore,  to  resolve  this  story  into  its 
historical  elements,  so  as  to  see  what  bearing  (if  any)  it  has 
on  geographical  thought  and  enterprise  within  this  period, 
it  seems  necessary  to  assume  that  the  compiler  of  the 
“ Navigation  ” owed  his  principal  inspiration  to  the  Sindbad 
“ romances  of  fact.”  Perhaps  we  may  suppose  the  real  state 
of  the  case  was  as  follows : First  of  all,  there  was  a real 
Brandan,  who  lived  at  the  beginning  of  the  age  of  Irish 
mission  enterprise,  and  took  part  in  that  national  movement. 
A tradition  of  an  actual  voyage  made  by  him  was  preserved 
in  Ireland  from  the  sixth  century;  but  in  this  tradition 
there  was  an  almost  absolute  want  of  detail  (from  the  later 
“ Navigation,”  it  is  evident  that  there  was  just  as  much 
authority  for  making  Brandan’s  course  an  eastward  as  there 
was  for  making  it  a westward  one) ; and  the  voyage  itself 
was  of  a modest  scope,  only  reaching  some  such  island  as 
Rockall,  near  to  the  Irish  coast.  As  time  went  on,  Brandan’s 
voyage,  which  owed  its  comparative  importance  simply  to 
the  spiritual  fame  of  its  leader,  was  enriched  with  various, 
but  slender  details ; thus  the  saint  was  credited  in  the  ninth 
century  “ Life  of  St.  Malo  ” 1 with  having  sought  in  vain  for 
Paradise. 

Then,  either  shortly  before  or  after  the  year  900,  an 
Irish  or  Frankish  monk,  going  on  pilgrimage  to  Syria, 
heard  or  read  the  Sindbad  story  in  some  form,  and  witnessed 
the  miracle  of  the  holy  fire  at  Jerusalem ; which  appears  in 
the  Brandan  story  of  the  lamps  lighted  by  an  angel’s  hand 
on  the  Isle  of  St.  Ailbhe,  and  which  was  first  made  widely 

1 By  Bili. 


V.]  THE  BRANDAN  STORY  AND  ITS  IMITATIONS.  239 


known  in  the  time  of  Bernard  the  Wise,  about  a.d.  870. 
Now,  and  not  till  now  (say  in  the  course  of  the  tenth 
century),  the  Brandan  story  was  thrown  into  the  form  we 
have  (in  all  its  main  incidents),  by  the  unknown  pilgrim  we 
have  supposed,  on  his  return  from  the  East ; and  before  the 
narrative  had  reached  the  state  even  of  the  oldest  manuscript 
we  possess,  the  Brandan  romance,  thus  Orientalized,  had 
received  a good  many  additions  from  other  sources,  especially 
from  the  Spanish  voyages  of  the  Young  Man  of  Cordova,  and 
the  Wanderers  of  Lisbon,  as  well  as  from  lives  of  other 


Christian  saints  and  Christianized  fragments  of  classical 
myth.1  In  its  final  shape,  the  legend  aimed  at  giving  not 
merely  a Christian  Odyssey,  but  a picture  of  monastic  life 
and  worship ; and  by  thus  combining  the  edifying  element 
with  the  adventurous,  strove  to  win  that  popularity  which,  as 
a matter  of  fact,  it  gained.2 

And  if  the  Brandan  story  proper  wears  so  doubtful  and 


unreal  a semblance,  still  less 

1 The  meeting  with  Judas  and 
with  Paul  the  Hermit  are  examples 
of  Christian — the  encounters  with 
the  talking  birds,  the  friendly  fish, 
and  the  crystal  column  in  the  sea  are, 
perhaps,  specimens  of  classical — loans 
to  the  Brandan  story. 

2 See  Avezac,  “ lies  Fantastiques 
de  l’Ocean  Occidental”  (1845) ; and 
Goeje,  “ La  Legende  de  Saint  Bran- 
dan ” (1890),  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant of  recent  studies  on  this  question ; 
also  Schirmer,  “Zur  Brendanus 
Legende  ” (1888),  which  attempts  to 
prove  that  the  “ Navigation,”  as  we 
have  it,  is  of  the  ninth  century ; Gaston 
Paris,  “ Terre  de  TEternelle  Jeu- 
nesse ; ” and  the  editions  of  the  text 
in  one  or  more  versions  by  Jubinal 
(“Legende  de  Saint  Brandon”), 
1836;  by  Thomas  Wright,  Percy 


satisfactory  are  its  copies.  As 

Society  Publics.  (1844) ; by  Francis 
Michel  (“Les  Voyages  Merveilleux 
de  Saint  Brandan  ”),  1878  ; by  P.  F. 
(Cardinal)  Moran  (Acta  Sti.  B.), 
1872  ; by  W.  T.  Rees,  in  the  “ Lives 
of  the  Cambro-British  Saints,”  1853 ; 
and  by  Schroder,  1871,  who  essays 
the  difficult  task  of  proving  the  Irish 
narrative  to  be  an  original,  from 
which  Sindbad  and  others  copied. 
There  is  also  a study  by  Paul 
Gaffarel  of  1881,  embodied  in  his 
“Histoire  de  la  Decouverte  de 
l’Am^rique  ” (1892);  and  one  by 
Zimmer  of  1889,  in  the  Zeitschrift 
fur  Deutsch.  Alterth.  xxiii.  pp.  129- 
220,  257-338.  The  Rev.  Denis 
O’Donoghue’s  “ Brendaniana  ” (Dub- 
lin, 1893)  gives  an  English  version 
of  the  principal  Brandan  episodes. 


240 


COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL. 


[Ch. 


to  the  chief  of  these,  the  Antiilia  story,  as  far  as  it  is  not 
an  essay  in  purely  fantastic  geography,  seems  to  rest  on 
nothing  earlier  or  better  than  the  tale  of  the  Portuguese 
mariners  of  1414,  which  may  have  referred  to  some  distant 
and  imperfect  view  of  the  Azores,  or  may  have  been  only 
the  transference  into  Christian  phrase  of  the  Western 
Dragon  Island  of  some  Arabic  writers,  or  of  the  Atlantis  of 
Plato.  With  this  last,  Antiilia  is  expressly  identified  by 
an  inscription  of  1455,  which  says  nothing  of  the  Spanish 
bishops  or  the  Seven  Cities,  and  only  repeats  the  tradition  of 
the  Timaeus. 

The  real  achievements  of  the  Northmen  make  these 
earlier  traditions  of  similar  ocean  voyaging  almost  ludi- 
crous. In  790  the  black  boats  of  the  Yikings  were  first  seen 
off  the  Irish  coast;  within  fifty  years  the  newcomers  had 
dealt  the  Irish  Church  and  its  enterprise  a blow  from 
which  it  never  recovered : and  with  their  advent,  here  as 
elsewhere,  we  reach  a natural  close  of  this  early  religious 
geography. 

In  the  introductory  chapter,  we  have  already  noticed 
the  Continental  counterpart  of  the  Irish  missionary  move- 
ment. For  while  this  was  still  in  its  prime,  Gregory  the 
Great  commenced  a Roman  enterprise  of  a similar  kind  ; — 
which  met  and  worsted  the  Celtic  preachers,  won  back  the 
best  part  of  Britain  to  its  old  communion,  returned  from 
England  upon  heathen  Germany  with  added  force,  and 
absorbing  into  itself  all  other  activities  of  Western  religion, 
at  last  completed  the  conversion  of  Europe,  by  the  gain  of 
the  Northmen  and  the  Hungarians,  just  a thousand  years 
after  the  gospel  had  been  brought  over  into  Macedonia  by 
St.  Paul. 

In  its  later  stages  this  expansion  of  the  Church  carried 
with  it  a decided  expansion  of  the  civilised  world,  and  so  of 


V.] 


MISSION  TRAVEL  IN  NORTHERN  EUROPE. 


241 


geography.  Within  the  limits  of  our  period  (to  the  end  of 
the  ninth  century)  it  did  not  accomplish  much  more  than  a 
defensive  work ; hut  here  and  there  it  made  exploring 
conquests,  even  from  the  seventh  century. 

Thus,  the  Bavarians,  the  Thuringians,  the  Frisians,  and 
other  tribes  beyond  the  lower  course  of  the  Rhine  were 
converted  by  Frankish,  Irish,  and  English  missionaries  in 
the  obedience  of  Rome  before  the  time  of  Boniface,  who 
pressed  home  their  work  into  the  central  heathen  land  of 
Germany  (716-755).  But  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of  the 
ninth  century  that  any  great  advance  was  made  in  widening 
the  bounds  of  Christendom,  if  we  except  Charles  the  Great’s 
compulsory  baptism  of  the  old  Saxons  between  the  Ems 
and  the  Elbe.  About  850  the  Catholic  attack  was  resumed 
in  a less  violent  and  more  Evangelical  manner.  Ansgar 
in  the  far  north,  had  already  made  his  way  to  Denmark  and 
to  Sweden  (822-829) ; Cyril  and  Methodius  had  begun 
their  mission  work  in  the  south-east  a few  years  before  : but 
it  was  now  that  some  result  was  first  clearly  traceable  along 
these  two  lines  of  progress.  It  was  under  the  protection  of 
Eric  of  Denmark  that  Ansgar  founded  the  earliest  per- 
manent Churches  among  Danes  and  Swedes.1  It  was  under 
the  auspices  and  in  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas  I.  that  the 
Moravians  as  a people  became  Christian  (c.  863).  In  the 
next  generation  the  gospel  was  carried  into  Bohemia  (c. 
894).  These  successes  bore  on  geography  as  well  as  on 
religion.  They  widened  the  horizon  of  Christendom  ; they 
brought  large  tracts  of  half-known  country  within  the  view 
of  the  Western  world;  they  even  threw  a light  into  the 
black  darkness  of  heathen  Scandinavia  and  Sclavonia.  They 
prepared  the  way  for  the  conversion  of  those  races  who  were 
to  be  the  foremost  champions,  the  most  daring  expanders 
1 848-853.  Of.  Rimbert’s  St.  Ansgar,  in  Migne,  P.  L.  cxviii. 

R 


242  COMMERCIAL  AND  MISSIONARY  TRAVEL.  [Ch.  V. 


of  the  Europe  and  Christendom  to  which  they  joined  them- 
selves.1 

ADDITIONAL  NOTE  TO  PAGE  209. 

As  to  Christian  mission  journeys  in  the  Sahara  and  Northern  Soudan, 
we  may  add,  from  Tertullian  (Adv.  Judseos,  7),  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
third  century  the  faith  had  already  been  preached  among  some  of  the 
Gretulian  and  Moorish  tribes  to  the  south  of  the  Syrtes.  The  Blemmyes  and 
Nobades  of  (?  Napata  in)  Nubia  were  not  converted  till  about  a.d.  548,  when 
the  Priest  Julian  undertook  his  evangelizing  travels  from  Alexandria, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Empress  Theodora  (John  of  Ephesus,  Hist.  Eccl. 
iv.  5-9).  Julian  won  over  Silco,  King  of  the  Nobades;  in  569  he  was 
followed  by  Longinus,  also  of  Alexandria  (John  of  Eph.  iv.  49).  The  Alodes 
living  to  the  south  of  the  Nobades — in  Meroe  proper? — were  evangelized  by 
the  latter  in  579.  The  Maccuritse,  who  about  573  sent  ivory  and  a camelopard 
to  Justin  II.,  were  then  still  heathen,  and  threatened  the  mission  travellers ; 
where  they  lived  is  rather  uncertain,  except  that  they  were  south  of  the 
Nobades.  See  Letronne  in  “ Memoires  de  l’Acad.  des  Inscriptions,”  ix.  128 ; 
x.  168,  218 ; E.  Revillout,  “ Memoire  sur  les  Blemmyes,”  in  Mem.  presenters 
a l’Acad.  des  Inscr.  viil,  ii.  371 ; A.  Dillmann,  “Uber  die  Anfange  des  Axu- 
mitischen,  Reiches,”  1878  ; Duchesne,  “Eglises  Separees,”  280-300;  and  refs, 
as  noticed  above,  especially  to  John  of  Ephesus. 


ADDITIONAL  NOTE  TO  PAGE  223. 

Metropolitan  Sees  of  the  Nestorian  Church. — The  thirteen  metro- 
politan sees  mentioned  by  Elias  of  Damascus  in  893  are ; 1.  Bagdad,  the 
province  of  the  patriarch.  2.  Djondesabour,  the  seat  of  the  great  medical 
college,  between  Bagdad  and  Ispahan.  3.  Nisibis.  4.  Mosul  (Nineveh). 
5.  Bethgarma,  or  Bajarma,  the  present  Eski-Bagdad,  east  of  the  Tigris, 
below  Dur.  6.  Damascus.  7.  Rai,  in  Tabaristan,  east  of  Teheran.  8.  Herat. 
9.  Armenia.  10.  Kand  (?  Samarcand).  11.  Fars,  on  the  east  of  the  Persian 
gulf.  12.  Bardara,  metropolis  of  the  province  of  Ar-Ran  on  the  Kur,  south- 
east of  the  modern  Elisabetpol,  at  the  south-west  end  of  the  Caspian.  13. 
Halwan,  close  to  Bagdad,  on  the  north-east,  a summer  icsidence  of  the 
caliphs.  To  these  may  be  added,  even  within  the  limits  of  our  period  and 
Elias’  own  life-time : 14.  Hind,  or  India,  for  the  Malabar  churches.  15.  Sin, 
or  China,  for  the  Singanfu  and  other  churches  beyond  the  Great  Wall.  [15a. 
Khambalik,  Cambalu,  or  Pekin,  and  15b.,  Zeytun,  are  probably  of  later 
creation,  after  900,  and  point  to  a Nestorian  revival  in  China  in  the  crusading 
time,  just  as  the  Nestorian  archbishopric  of  Jerusalem  begins  in  1200.]  16. 
Merv,  or  Tus,  for  the  missions  on  the  east  side  of  the  Caspian.  17.  Halaha, 
or  Balkh  (?).  18.  Kashimghar,  or  Kashgar  (?).  19.  Sejistan  (?metrop.  of 

Persia).  20.  Kotrobah,  or  Socotra  (?). 


1 Historical  judgment  is  always  in 
danger  of  over-satisfaction  with  the 
comfortable  doctrine  that  whatever 
is,  is  right.  We  shall  never  know 
whether  Europe,  conquered  and 
heathenised  by  the  Northmen,  would 
have  been  at  last  (say  in  the  twelfth 
century)  more  or  less  backward  than 
it  actually  found  itself.  It  is  curious 
that  the  Norse  genius  for  exploration, 


though  not  for  conquest,  seemed  to 
die  out  with  its  conversion : but  we 
must  not  forget  that  the  impulse  of 
the  crusading  movement  was  due  to 
them ; and  if  the  Vikings  grew  tamer 
within  the  Church,  we  must  not 
regret  it.  They  would  not  have  re- 
ceived the  Catholic  system  if  they 
had  felt  that  it  cramped  and  en- 
feebled their  life. 


( 243  ) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 

I. — SOLINUS  AND  THE  FABULISTS. 

We  have  now  to  look  at  the  theories  and  the  theorists 
of  onr  earlier  mediaeval,  or  patristic,  geography.  We 
have  followed  the  steps  of  the  travellers,  of  the  practical 
explorers  of  this  time,  from  the  age  of  Constantine  to  the 
age  of  the  Vikings ; we  must  now  try  to  realize  what 
students  had  made  of  the  science  which  the  pilgrims 
represented  in  its  active  and  matter-of-fact  relations. 

And  here  we  shall  he  even  more  roughly  awakened  to 
the  decline  which  had  taken  place  from  the  high-water 
mark  of  classical  knowledge.  Whereas  Strabo,  Ptolemy, 
the  Peutinger  Table,  and  many  less  important  and  prominent 
works,  all  bear  witness  to  the  fulness  and  the  extent  of 
Roman  and  Greek  acquaintance,  under  the  Empire,  with 
a large  portion  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  and  with  the 
shape  and  size  of  the  world  as  a whole ; whereas  the  reckon- 
ings of  Eratosthenes  shows  how  a fairly  accurate  measurement 
of  the  circumference  of  the  earth  was  possible  in  the  time 
of  Hannibal ; and  whereas  the  writings  of  Herodotus  are 
evidence  of  correct  ideas,  even  in  the  time  of  Pericles,  upon 
such  a distant  and  difficult  region  as  the  Caspian  Sea,  and 
tell  us  of  attempts  in  map-making  five  hundred  years  before 
Christ — now,  after  the  lapse  of  a thousand,  or  even  of  thirteen 


244 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


hundred  summers,1  the  history  of  European  thought  seems 
only  to  display,  as  a permanent  result,  the  savings  of  a 
wreckage.  The  ill-chosen  and  often  misunderstood  frag- 
ments of  pre-Christian  work — the  extracts  from  Pliny,  or 
Mela,  or  the  traditional  surveys  of  Caesar  and  Augustus, 
which  we  find  in  the  patristic  and  ecclesiastical  geographers 
before  the  Crusades — appear  to  be  almost  the  sole  antidotes 
to  ignorance.  Of  independent  work  in  geographical  theory, 
except  for  scripturists  like  Cosmas,  there  is  scarcely  any- 
thing ; as  a substitute  for  this,  we  have  little  more  than 
compilations  from  the  more  fanciful  and  less  trustworthy 
pagan  authors.  Till  the  Mediaeval  Renaissance  begins,  in 
the  Crusading  Age,  we  must  be  content  with  abridgments 
of  Pliny,  lists  transcribed  with  many  blunders  from  ancient 
itineraries,  and  maps  drawn  partly  from  the  Jewish 
Scriptures,  partly  from  late  and  secondhand  repositories 
of  general  knowledge.  Early  Christian  science  seemed  often 
to  avoid,  as  if  on  principle,  the  better  sources  of  information, 
the  geography  of  Claudius  Ptolemy,  the  description  of  all 
known  lands  by  Strabo,  the  narratives  of  authentic  travel 
to  be  found  in  the  ancient  Peripli  or  Coastings,  such  as  that 
of  the  “ Red  ” or  Indian  Sea.2  These  dry  records  were  unpala- 
table ; they  must  be  taken  with  a pleasant  mixture  of  natural 
history  (as  in  Pliny),  or  of  grammatical  fancy  (as  in 
Servius  and  Varro),  or  of  theological  dogma  (as  in  the 
Catholic  Encyclopaedists,  Orosius,  Isidore,  and  the  rest). 
And  besides  this  instinctive  preference  for  the  legendary 
as  against  the  commonplace,  the  Christian  science  in  ques- 
tion had  two  other  prepossessions  which  were  scarcely 
helpful  to  the  progress  of  knowledge.  It  delighted  in  any 
suggestions  of  geographical  symmetry,  however  fanciful ; 3 


1 Yiz.  from  Herodot.,  450  b.c.,  to 
a.d.  900. 

2 The  “ Erythraean  ” Periplus, 


prob.  of  c.  a.d.  80. 

3 E.g.  of  the  length  of  the  oIkov/jlcv4i 
as  double  the  breadth. 


VI.]  THREE  CHIEF  SCHOOLS  OF  PATRISTIC  GEOGRAPHY.  245 


and  it  was  anxious  to  square  its  ideas  of  the  world  with 
those  which  had  been  held  by  the  Hebrew  race  at  various 
periods,  and  which  were  enshrined  in  the  Old  or  New  Testa- 
ment. Under  the  impulse  of  this  last  and  very  natural 
desire,  it  even  ventured  into  something  like  original  work. 
It  was  impressed  by  the  idea  that  science  was  governed  by 
revelation,  and  so,  confronting  various  passages  of  Scripture 
with  the  discoveries  and  assertions  of  pagan  geographers 
and  astronomers,  it  subjected  the  latter  as  far  as  possible  to 
the  tests  of  an  infallible  Word  and  of  an  infallible  Church 
directed  by  that  Word.  As  we  have  pointed  out  already,  one 
theologian  at  least  proceeded  even  further.  Cosmas,  the 
monk,  by  a daring  literalism,  and  a still  more  daring 
mysticism,  in  his  interpretation  of  Bible  texts,  constructed 
a complete  religious  system  of  geography.  In  the  manner 
of  his  class,  he  illustrated  this  with  stories  of  marvels, 
animal,  mineral,  or  architectural,  in  various  parts,  and  with 
definite  statements  intended  to  illustrate  the  symmetrical 
harmony  and  suggestiveness  of  nature. 

His  work,  however,  must  be  discussed  in  its  proper  place, 
like  that  of  the  other  Christian  theorists  of  the  later  Empire 
and  the  earlier  Middle  Ages ; and  among  these  we  shall 
find  three  schools,  all  of  which  are  sometimes  represented 
in  the  same  writer,  and  whose  characteristics  we  have 
attempted  to  illustrate  by  certain  leading  examples.1 

Eirst  come  the  Fabulists , the  copyists  of  the  classical 
curiosities  of  literature,  whose  happy  hunting-ground  lay  in 
the  tales  that  had  gradually  collected  about  distant  countries. 

After  these,  and  standing  in  the  same  dependent  relation 


1 Viz.  Solinus  for  the  Fabulists; 
Cosmas  for  the  Cosmographers ; the 
Ravennese  geographer  for  the  Sta- 
tisticians ; together  with  Dicuil  and 


some  of  the  minor  geographers  of  the 
Dark  Ages  as  representing  a blend 
of  all. 


246 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


to  pre-Christian  work,  but  interested  also  in  a less  romantic 
part  of  that  same  work,  are  the  Statisticians ; who  transcribe 
for  us  many  of  the  ancient  road  measurements  and  place- 
names  ; not  without  adding,  in  some  cases,  pleasant  stories 
which  show  their  close  connection  with  the  Fabulists.  Their 
primary  object,  however,  is  to  give  us  facts  and  figures  about 
every  country,  its  people,  and  its  natural  features ; and  the 
title  of  Dicuil’s  work,  “ On  the  Measurement  of  the  Earth,” 
applies  to  every  one  of  these  arithmetical  geographers. 
Had  their  labours  been  in  any  way  original,  and  in  the  few 
instances  where  this  is  the  case,  they  would  have  been, 
they  are,  useful  and  valuable ; but  they  are  nearly  always 
content  to  extract  and  to  compile  from  non-Christian  sources. 

Lastly  come  the  Cosmographers,  those  who  attempted 
in  maps  and  in  writings  to  draw  a picture  of  the  world 
as  they  conceived  it.  Beginning  with  Cosmas,  or  even 
with  Lactantius,  this  school  possessed  an  undoubted  though 
rather  mournful  independence.  It  aimed  at  being  separate 
from  profane  and  non-Biblical  speculation;  it  was  proud 
of  owing  so  little  to  pagan  workers,  and  of  differing 
so  sharply  from  the  conclusions  of  the  unaided  reason. 
With  the  help  of  faith  and  the  holy  books  of  Christianity, 
it  sought,  as  Ptolemy  had  once  tried  on  his  own  account,  to 
reconstruct,  to  “ put  right  ” the  ancient  charts ; and  with  its 
results  we  may  finish  this  survey  of  that  religious  age  of 
thought  which  we  have  been  attempting  to  describe  in  its 
travel  and  now  have  to  question  about  its  science — its 
organized  knowledge  and  its  reasoning. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  ransack  the  literature  of  the  Dark 
Ages  in  search  of  examples  of  the  geographical  fable  or 
myth.  Much  of  this  sort  of  thing  is  scattered  through  the 
writings  of  those  who  are  really  to  be  classed  among  the 


VI.] 


SOLINUS  THE  FABULIST. 


247 


collectors  of  statistics  or  the  draughtsmen,  whose  object,  like 
that  of  Ptolemy,  was  above  all,  if  not  to  delineate,  at  least  to 
give  material  for  the  delineation  of,  a world-picture.  But 
the  representative  of  the  class  in  question  which  alone  needs 
any  detailed  study  is  the  work  of  Julius  Solinus,  surnamed 
Polyhistor.1  In  his  “ Collectanea,”  or  gallery  of  wonderful 
things,  he  has  brought  together  from  Pliny’s  natural  history, 
from  Pomponius  Mela,  and  from  other  sources,  that  body  of 
travellers’  tales  which  became  the  standard  of  geographical 
myth  between  the  fourth  and  the  fourteenth  centuries.  By 
the  side  of  this  all  similar  collections  are  insignificant ; 
from  it  directly  come  most  of  the  fables  in  works  of  object 
so  different  as  those  of  Dicuil,  Isidore,  Capella,  and  Priscian. 
He  is  quoted  and  used  by  a considerable  number  of 
Christian  writers  from  Augustine  downwards ; his  more 
striking  and  picturesque  narratives  are  transferred  almost 
in  their  entirety  to  mediaeval  maps  as  late  as  the  Hereford 
example  (c.  1300) ; but  he  is  himself  in  all  probability 
a pagan,  and  in  no  sense  original.  Three-quarters  of  his 
material  comes  from  Pliny,  and  the  remaining  fourth  is 
nearly  all  derived  from  other  writers,  more  classical  than 
himself.  Even  fragments  of  Yarro2  are  to  be  found  in  his 
museum.  But  it  would  be  wrong  to  refuse  him  a place  in 
the  history  of  Christian  geography,  for  no  one  ever  influenced 
it  more  profoundly  or  more  mischievously.  And  it  would 
also  be  wrong  to  go  back  at  once  to  Pliny  and  disregard  his 
imitator ; for  the  copy  differed  in  important  respects  from 
the  original,  and  it  was  the  copy  and  not  the  original  which 


1 Or  the  varied  narrator. 

2 From  the  lost  book  De  Litorali- 
bus,  e.g.  Sol.  xi.  6,  30.  As  he  stands, 
however,  Solinus  has  apparently  been 
revised  at  a considerably  later  date, 
by  some  one  who  has  added  details 


relative  to  the  British  Isles,  and  who 
therefore  was  presumably  a Briton  or 
Irishman  (an  Irish  monk,  some  have 
conjectured).  Gf.  Mommsen’s  Sol., 
pref.  new  edit.,  1895. 


248 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


was  known  to  and  studied  by  the  Christian  West  for  so  long. 
Pliny’s  natural  history  contained  a great  amount  of  curious 
and  mythical  matter,  but  this  was  only  a fraction  of  the 
whole,  which  on  a general  view  was  not  altogether  unscientific. 
Solinus  made  it  his  business  to  extract  the  dross  and  leave 
the  gold,  transcribing  every  marvellous  tale  for  a book  that 
did  not  amount  to  one-seventh  of  the  size  of  the  older 
encyclopaedia.  To  this  end  he  combined  with  his  Plinian 
anecdotes,  a number  of  stories  differently  fathered;  and 
a few  he  seems  to  have  contributed  himself.  For  his 
object  and  spirit  were  quite  different  from  the  writers  he 
copied.  They,  in  however  confused  a manner,  were  attempt- 
ing some  kind  of  description  in  agreement  with  observed 
facts ; his  collection  was  one  of  marvels,  different  from  the 
ordinary  humdrum  course  of  nature. 

Of  the  life,  date,  or  creed  of  Solinus  we  have  only  approxi- 
mate knowledge.  But  it  may  be  stated  with  confidence 
that  he  wrote  at  some  time  in  the  third  or  fourth  century, 
a.d.  ; it  is  probable  that  he  belonged  to  the  earlier  of  these 
periods;  it  is  certain  that  he  wrote  before  the  time  of 
Theodosius  II.  (408-450),  in  whose  reign  a copy  was  made 
of  his  “ Collectanea.”  The  traditional  date  of  his  work  is 
generally  given  as  about  a.d.  230-240,  in  the  age  of  con- 
fusion that  followed  the  death  of  Alexander  Severus;  we 
can  only  suppose  it  probable,  from  the  total  absence  of  any 
Christian  reference,  that  it  was  written  in  any  case  before 
the  conversion  of  Constantine  (c.  312).  From  the  character 
of  the  language  we  shall  be  justified  in  bringing  down  its 
composition  to  the  latest  period  consistent  with  other 
limitations ; and  we  may  notice  that  St.  Augustine 1 is  the 
oldest  known  authority  to  make  use  of  this  collection 
(c.  a.d.  426),  and  that  Priscian  is  the  first  to  quote  him  by 
name  (c.  450). 

1 De  Civ.  Dei,  xvi.  8;  xviii.  17 ; xxi.  4.  4;  5.  1. 


VI.] 


HIS  PROBABLE  DATE. 


249 


It  has  been  pointed  out1  that  Solinus  speaks  of  Byzantium, 
but  never  of  Constantinople;  that  he  shows  no  knowledge 
of  the  Diocletian  divisions  of  the  Empire ; that  his  mention 
of  silk  as  now  used,  not  only  by  women,  but  also  by  men, 
points,  on  the  other  hand,  to  a time  after  Elagabalus  first 
made  this  luxury  popular  among  the  male  sex  in  Rome 
(a.d.  218-222) ; 2 and  that  his  compilation  may  therefore 
be  fixed  within  a limit  of  sixty  years  (c.  220-280) : but  we 
must  not  forget  that  a book  of  excerpts,  such  as  his,  need  not 
often  or  ever  reflect  the  views,  the  habits,  or  the  life  of  the 
collector’s  time,  but  only  of  those  from  whom  he  draws. 
Weak,  however,  as  are  the  arguments  3 in  a positive  direction, 
they  are  hardly  met  by  any  that  point  against  so  general 
a conclusion,  and  until  fresh  and  better  evidence  appears, 
we  may  take  it  as  probable  that  before  the  close  of  the  third 
century  and  the  Diocletian  persecution  the  “Collectanea 
rerum  memorabilium  ” was  already  in  men’s  hands. 

The  whole  work,  divided  into  fifty-six  sections  or  chapters, 
is  dedicated  to  one  Adventus,  whom  the  author  assures  of 
the  credibility  of  his  book,  as  following  the  most  reliable 
authorities.  Its  pompous  and  inflated  style  helps  us  to 
believe  in  the  probability  of  a tradition,  which  makes  him 
a grammarian.4  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  clear  that  he  could 
not  have  studied  geography,  except  as  a naturalist  or  a 


1 As  by  Mommsen,  in  bis  admir- 
able preface,  which  has  left  little  to 
be  said,  except  in  the  explanation  of 
various  difficult  expressions  in  the 
text,  e.g.  the  “ Thunder-stones”  of  the 
German  coast. 

2 Also  Caius,  his  prsenomen,  was 
rare  in  the  fourth  century. 

3 We  may  add  that  he  names  the 

Emperors  Caius,  Claudius,  and 
Vespasian ; refers  to  Suetonius  and 


the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and 
speaks  of  Persia  in  a way  that 
points  to  a time  after  the  Sassanian 
Revival  (see  chs.  liii.,  xlv.,  xxix., 
xxiv.,  xxxv. 

4  To  the  same  purpose  is  his  men- 
tion of  Varro,  and  most  of  his  first 
part,  “ Of  Man.”  Cf.  Bunbury,  Anc. 
Geog.  ii.  676,  etc. ; and  Ramsay,  in 
Diet.  Class.  Biog.,  who  gives  a peculiar 
meaning  to  his  title  of  Polyhistor. 


250 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


lapidary.  He  shows  no  acquaintance  with  Ptolemy,  men- 
tions Strabo  only  once,  and  is  constantly  using  expressions 
which  convey  an  entirely  wrong  idea  of  the  countries  he 
describes.  In  knowledge  of  the  earth-surface,  he  is  far 
behind  Herodotus,  though  pretending  to  cover  a really 
wider  field. 

The  business  of  Solinus  was  to  put  together,  from  all 
available  sources,  a number  of  marvellous  tales, — tales  of 
monstrous  races,  strange  animals,  curious  minerals  and 
precious  stones ; tales,  also,  of  natural  wonders  by  sea  and 
by  land, — but  his  method  of  treating  them  was  strictly 
geographical.  Thus  he  first  of  all  describes  Italy,1  after 
detailing  the  wonders,  past  and  present,  of  the  Eternal  City 
itself ; then  he  narrates  the  marvels  of  South-Eastern 
Europe,  and  especially  of  Greece ; thirdly,  he  takes  us 
through  Pontica  and  Scythia,  the  Black  Sea  lands  and 
Russia ; from  this  point  he  turns  back  and  traverses 
Northern  and  Western  Europe,  from  Germany  to  Spain. 
The  last  two  sections  of  his  book  are  concerned  with  Africa 
and  Asia.2 

Of  his  main  sources  we  have  already  spoken.  His 
nickname  of  “ Pliny’s  ape  ” is  justified,  for  what  it  is  worth, 
by  nearly  every  page  of  his  work ; 3 but  he  did  not  use  the 
Natural  History,  as  we  have  suggested,  without  discrimina- 
tion. It  was  his  quarry  for  a certain  kind  of  treasure, 
and  he  only  laid  under  contribution  those  portions  which 
contained  good  store  of  marvels.  Thus  he  turned  especially 
to  the  geographical  books  (iii.-vi.),  and  to  the  passages 
“ Concerning  Man  ” (bk.  vii.),  “ Concerning  Animals  ” (bks. 
viii.-xi.),  “ Concerning  Trees  ” (bk.  xii.),  and  “ Concerning 


1  After  his  long  introductory  chap- 

ter, “ De  Homine,”  which  is  largely 
occupied  with  the  wonders  of  Rome 

and  its  history.  Cf.  cc.  1-19. 


2 Cf.  cc.  20-56. 

3 Yet  though  his  whole  work  is 
based  on  Pliny,  he  never  names 
him. 


VI.]  SOURCES  AND  PECULIARITIES  OF  SOLINUS.  251 


Gems  ” (bk.  xxxvii.)  in  that  great  treatise,  from  which  he 
makes  oyer  seven  hundred  extracts.  In  the  same  way,  most 
of  the  thirty-nine  chapters  of  Pomponius  Mela  which  re- 
appear in  Solinus  are  from  the  second  book  of  that  com- 
pendium, where  the  manners  and  monsters  of  outlying- 
countries  are  particularly  dwelt  upon.  Varro’s  book,  “On 
Shore-lands,”  is  repeatedly  quoted ; and,  besides  the  autho- 
rity of  Homer  and  Yirgil,  Solinus  invokes  the  philosopher 
Democritus,  the  King  Juba,  the  sage  Zoroaster,  and  the 
writers  of  the  “Punic  Books,”  with  the  still  more  famous 


names  of  Aristotle,  Cato,  Cicero,  and  Sallust,  in  his  support. 
But  though  his  sources  were  thus  exclusively  classical,1 


1 It  was  probably  from  lost  classical 
works  that  he  drew  most  of  his  addi- 
tional facts  or  fancies,  unknown  to 
Pliny  and  Mela,  e.g.  his  isles  of 
Thanet  (first  named  by  him),  and  of 
the  Silures,  separated  by  the  sea 
from  Britain;  his  story  of  the  visit 
of  Ulysses  to  the  extreme  point  of 
Caledonia,  and  dedication  of  an  altar 
there ; his  tale  of  the  snake-destroy- 
ing properties  of  Irish  and  Thanet 
soil,  and  his  adjectival  use  of  the  term 
Mediterranean,  for  the  great  inland 
sea,  for  which  his  proper  name  is 
“Ours”  (Nostrum  Mare).  St.  Isi- 
dore, c.  600,  is  the  first  who  distin  ctly 
calls  it  by  the  new  name  (Mediter- 
raneum  Mare).  The  authors  named 
by  Solinus  are  (with  references  to  pp. 
and  lines  in  Mommsen’s  edit,  of  1895) : 
— Agathocles,  3. 10;  Amometus,  183. 
6 ; Anaximander,  72.  8 ; M.  Antonius, 
34.  12 ; Apollodorus,  7.  6 ; Apol- 
lonides,  26.  3 ; King  Archelaus,  186. 
15 ; Aristotle,  112. 10  ; Baeton,  186.  2 ; 
Bocchus,  25.  9 ; 34.  11 ; 36.  2 ; Calli- 
demus,  74.  6;  Callimachus,  76.  19; 
M.  Cato,  31. 9 ; 33. 3 ; 117.  9 ; Cicero, 
25.  19 ; 7.  8 ; Cincius,  7.  5 ; Ccelius, 
39.  3;  Corn.  Nepos,  7.  6;  cf.  220.31; 


173.6;  Cosconius,  35.  4;  Crates, 72. 9; 
Cremutius,  169. 16  ; Crispus(=  Sal- 
lust), 46.  4;  Ctesias,  187. 19  ; Demo- 
critus, 13.  4 ; cf.  45. 15 ; Demodamas, 
180.  14;  Dionysius,  183.  16;  Dosi- 
ades,  72.  7 ; Eratosthenes,  7.  6 ; 
Fabianus,  79.  6 ; Gellius,  4.  5 ; Gra- 
nius  Licinianus,34. 14 ; 41. 7 ; Hanno, 
110. 16 ; Hecatseus,  92.  13 ; Hegesi- 
demus,  79. 17 ; Hemina,  34. 7 ; 35. 7 ; 
Heracleides,  3.  6 ; Homer,  36.  3 ; 45. 
3 ; 61. 10 ; 62. 4 ; King  Juba,  110. 17 ; 
119.  10,  and  in  five  more  places; 
Lutatius,  7.  6;  Maecenas,  79.  6; 
“Mantuan  Poems”  (Virgil),  178.  1; 
Megasthenes,  183.  14 ; 187.  16  ; Me- 
trodorus,  42.  1 ; Philemon,  92.  14 ; 
Pictor,  7.  5 ; Pomponius  Atticus,  7.  7 ; 
Pesidonius,  ,183.  11;  “Praenestin. 
Books,”  33. 13 ; “ Punic  Books,”  138. 
4 ; Statius  Sebosus,  112.  1 ; 190.  16  ; 
Sextius,  33. 4 ; Silenus,5. 11 ; Sotacus, 
133.  8;  Tarruntius,  5.  23;  Theo- 
phrastus, 41.  2 ; 87.  2 ; Theopompus, 
55.3;  Timaeus,  46.  3 ; Trogus,  12. 19 ; 
Varro,  5.  16 ; 19.  2 ; 25.  17 ; 37.  15 ; 
57.  8,  and  in  seven  more  places; 
Xenophon  of  Lampsacus,  39.  11 ; 
210.  5 ; Zenodotus,  33. 12 ; Zoroaster, 
41.  16 ; 159.  9. 


252  GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY.  [Ch. 

Solinus*  readers  seem  to  have  been  almost  as  exclusively 
Christian.  Starting  with  the  four  references  of  Augustine 
in  his  “ City  of  God,”  we  go  on  from  strength  to  strength, 
through  the  five  of  Ealdhelm,  the  two  of  Bede  and  of  “ Jor- 
danis,”  to  the  half-century  of  Priscian,  the  two  hundred  of 
Isidore  and  the  thirty-six  of  Dicuil,  or  the  transcripts 
that  cover  the  Hereford  map. 

Yet  scarcely  any  of  the  imitations  of  the  “ Collectanea,” 
with  one  exception,  occupy  quite  the  same  position  or  have 
really  the  same  object.  The  exception  is  to  be  found  in  the 
mediaeval  Bestiaries,  or  story-books  of  animals.  Even  later 
and  more  famous  travellers’  tales,  like  Mandeville’s,  do  not 
cover  quite  the  same  ground,  and  take  a rather  more 
scientific  attitude.  They  do  not  aim  so  simply  at  extract- 
ing the  marvellous  from  the  ordinary  world.  They  delight 
to  enliven  their  pages  with  wonderful  tales;  but  Solinus 
goes  far  beyond  this.  With  rare  intervals,  he  steadily 
avoids  naturalism  altogether.  His  work  is  perhaps  the 
most  completely  miraculous  view  of  the  world  ever  put 
forth  in  Europe ; and  it  is  paralleled  only  by  the  scientific 
supernaturalism  of  Cosmas’  geography.  Where  the  pagan 
narrator  gave  relations  of  marvellous  but  supposed  fact,  the 
Christian  monk  attempted  to  prove  a systematic  basis  for 
the  government  of  the  world,  independent  of  natural  law 
and  essentially  matter  of  faith.  The  latter  generalised 
where  the  former  merely  instanced ; but  the  mental  attitude 
of  the  two  was  very  similar ; and  they  appealed  for  favour 
and  for  acceptance  on  much  the  same  ground,  and  to  much 
the  same  kind  of  people.  They  both  came  into  fashion, 
in  their  different  degrees,  with  the  rise  of  theological 
interests ; they  both  passed  out  of  serious  notice  when  the 
exclusive  power  of  those  interests  was  disturbed. 

The  work  of  Solinus  opens  with  a collection  of  stories 


SOLINUS  ON  ITALY. 


253 


YI.] 


mainly  about  people,  chiefly  taken  from  classical  mythology, 
and  dignified  with  the  title  of  an  essay  on  man. 

From  this  he  returns,  as  Arthur  Golding  paraphrases 
him,  to  his  “before  determined  purpose  in  the  recital  of 
places,”  beginning  with  Italy  “and  the  praise  thereof.” 
Unluckily,  this  hub  of  the  universe  had  been  so  often  and  so 
thoroughly  described,  especially  by  Marcus  Cato,  “ that  there 
could  not  be  found  there  the  thing  which  the  diligence  of 
former  authors  had  not  related.”  “For  who  knoweth  not 
that  Janiculum  was  either  named  or  builded  by  Janus ; ” or, 
again,  that  Caieta  took  its  name  from  ^Eneas’  nurse  ? These 
facts  were  granted  by  all  and  known  to  all ; but  it  might 
give  his  readers  a new  and  improved  idea  of  geography, 
Solinus  appears  to  think,  if  he  described  Italy’s  shape  as 
like  an  oaken  leaf — a curiously  perverse  comparison.1  In 
spite  of  his  complaint,  we  do  not  find  that  familiarity  has 
bred  contempt  in  the  fabulist.  He  stocks  the  best-known 
country  of  his  race  and  language  with  marvels  worthy  of  the 
most  distant  and  romantic  lands,  f Thus  the  people  who 
sacrificed  to  Apollo  at  Soracte,  and  in  their  yearly  festival 
frisked  and  danced  upon  the  burning  wood  without  harm, 
being  a “ kindred  privileged  from  hurt  of  fire  ; ” their  com- 
peers, who  were  more  dangerous  to  serpents  than  serpents  to 
them,  like  the  Jean  Freron  of  the  French  proverb ; 2 the 
boas,  or  pythons,  of  Calabria,  who  fattened  upon  the  udders 
of  milch  kine ; the  wolves  that  made  men  dumb  if  they  saw 
without  being  seen ; above  all,  the  lynxes,  whose  urine  con- 
gealed into  “ the  hardness  of  a precious  stone,”  3— prevented 
Italy  from  being  entirely  condemned  as  prosaic. 


1 Sol.  ii.  20. 

2 “ Un  serpent  mordit  Jean  Freron. 

Eh  bien,  le  serpent  en 
mourat.” 

And  cf.  a similar  Greek  proverb 


about  the  Cappadocians.  Cf.  Sol.  ii. 
26,  27,  33 ; PI.  vii.  15,  19. 

3  The  sagacity  and  malevolence  of 
these  same  lynxes  were  as  remarkable 
as  their  natural  wealth.  “As  soon 


254 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch, 


The  grasshoppers  of  Khegium,  adds  Solinus,  were  dumb ; 
and  this  silence  of  theirs  was  especially  curious,  as  the  same 
insects  at  Locri,  the  very  next  place,  were  noisier  than  all 
others.  The  real  cause  of  the  marvel  was,  of  course,  Hercules, 
and  nothing  else.  He  was  bored  by  the  noise  the  crickets 
made  one  day,  and  ordered  them  to  hold  their  peace.  They 
stopped  at  once ; but,  from  resentment  or  forgetfulness,  he 
neglected  to  take  off  the  embargo,  and  so  it  still  continued 
in  force.  These  were  the  chief  marvels  of  Italy ; besides 
them,  it  had  not  much  to  show,  except  coral  in  its  seas — “ a 
shrub  like  a gristle  ” — and  devoutly  religious  birds  in  its 
temples. 

Among  the  islands  near,  notably  Corsica,  Sardinia,  and 
Sicily,  Solinus  finds  magnetic  stones,  once  turned  to  good 
account  by  Democritus  of  Abdera,  in  his  “ contests  with  the 
wizards ; ” poisonous  worms,  that  lie  in  the  shade  and  sting 
those  that  sit  down  upon  them ; “ sardonic  ” plants,  that  kill 
men  with  a horrible  grinning  lockjaw ; and  valuable  springs, 
that  knit  up  broken  bones,  expel  poison,  drive  away  diseases 
of  the  eyes,  and  discover  thieves.1  ^ 

The  volcanic  marvels  of  Sicily ; 2 the  sacrifices  on  Vul- 
can’s hill,  “ which  take  fire  of  themselves  ; ” the  wonderful 
fountains,  child-productive  or  -destructive ; the  underground 
ways,  which  carry  the  fire  of  .ZEtna  to  the  Liparis  and  else- 
where, are  more  in  the  ordinary  course  of  pseudo-science,  and 
scarcely  add  much  to  Solinus’  reputation. 

Perhaps  his  description  of  the  milk-stones  of  Greece  3 is 
more  creditable  to  his,  or  rather  Pliny’s,  imagination. 
These  treasures,  we  are  told,  tied  about  a woman  that  giveth 


as  the  water  is  passed  from  them,  by- 
and-by  they  cover  it  over  with  heaps 
of  sand — verily  of  spite,  as  Theo- 
phrastus avoucheth.  This  stone  hath 
the  colour  of  amber,  and  draweth  to 


it  things  that  be  near  at  hand.” 

1 Sol.  iii.  4, 5 ; Pl.xxxvii.  152 ; also 
Sol.  iv.  1-3,  47. 

2 Sol.  v.  1-23. 

3 Sol.  vii.  4 ; PI.  xxxvii.  162. 


VI.]  SOLINUS  ON  GREECE,  THRACE,  ETC.  255 

suck,  make  her  breasts  full  of  milk ; tied  to  a child,  they 
“ cause  more  abundant  swallowing  of  spittle ; ” received  into 
the  mouth,  they  melt,  but  “ therewithal  perisheth  the  gift 
of  memory.”  Yet  in  Greece,  as  in  Italy,  the  fabulist  is 
worried  and  hampered.  He  has  not  got  a free  hand.  There 
is  too  much  of  the  dry  light  of  fact.  All  the  country  is  so 
well  known,  that  the  only  marvel  is  (as  Arthur  Golding 
translates  the  Silver-Latin  into  Elizabethan  English),  “ how 
it  should  be  kept  in  Hugger-mugger.”  Yet  Hugger-mugger 
was  the  true  atmosphere  for  the  wonder-weaver.  The  best 
fairy  stories  of  an  enchanted  world  could  only  be  put 
together  with  confidence  and  grace  when  the  artist  knew 
himself  to  be  safe  from  detection,  j 

To  escape  from  the  unpleasantly  searching  light  of 
plains  and  cities,  Solinus  now  takes  us  up  to  the  top  of 
Olympus,1  and  tells  us  pleasant  tales  about  the  altar  there.2 
“ There  is  no  land  under  heaven,”  he  is  positive,  “ that  may 
worthily  be  compared  thereto  in  height,  and  hereunto  the 
rage  of  water  never  attained  when  the  flood  overwhelmed  all 
things.”  Even  in  the  lower  ground  there  were  still  to  be 
seen  traces  of  this  same  flood — “ prints  of  no  small  credit.” 
In  the  dark  caves  of  the  hills,  for  instance,  one  could  see 
the  shells  of  fishes,  which  must  have  been  left  there  by  the 
deluge. 

Under  the  head  of  Thrace 3 we  get  some  improvements 
upon  the  old  and  true  tale  of  the  migratory  cranes.  When 
these  fly  south  for  their  yearly  fight  with  the  pygmies,  lest 
the  wind  should  drive  them  out  of  their  course,  they  gorge 
themselves  with  sand  and  stones,  and  keep  watch  at  night, 


1 Sol.  viii.  6 ; Me.  II.  ii.  10. 

2 Any  educated  man,  adds  a later 

text,  translated  in  Golding,  but  not 
found  in  Mommsen’s  edition,  is  well 


aware  that  letters  written  in  the 
ashes  of  that  altar  continue  till  the 
ceremonies  of  the  next  year. 

3  Sol.  x.  1-12  ; PI.  x.  59,  60. 


256 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


holding  little  weights  in  their  claws,1  till  they  are  past  the 
Great  Sea.  p 

The  mention  of  Delos  and  Quail  Island  (Ortygia)  gives  a 
fine  opening  for  quail  stories,  especially  in  Boeotia,  where  the 
bird  is  not  found,  but  where  it  is  held  in  honour  for  its 
peculiar  properties,  since  “ this  animal  alone,  of  all  beasts, 
excepting  man,  suffers  the  falling  sickness ; ” and  with 
Mount  Athos,  which  casts  his  shadow  to  Lemnos,  fifty-six 
miles  away,  and  is  reckoned  higher  than  where  the  rains 
come  from,  we  are  back  again  on  the  continent  of  Europe.2 
Here,  as  we  have  seen,  life  is  too  confined  for  anything  like 
free  play  of  the  imagination,  and  Solinus  hurries  on  to 
Scythia  (Russia  and  Tartary),3  where  begins  the  third  main 
division  of  his  work,  on  more  congenial  and  productive  soil. 

In  the  waters  to  the  south  (as  in  the  Black  Sea)  the 
dolphins  show  extraordinary  activity,  being  often  known  to 
leap  quite  over  the  mainsails  of  passing  ships  ; in  the  steppes 
themselves  monsters  of  every  kind  delight  the  searcher  after 
truth. 

Besides  the  beavers  (who,  like  the  lynxes  of  Italy,  try  to 
cheat  their  hunters  by  cunning  devices),  there  are  tribes  of 
loupgaroux — of  men  who,  at  certain  times,  turn  into  wolves, 
returning  to  their  former  shape  after  a short  holiday  among 
the  brutes ; of  horse-footed  and  long-eared  men,  who  need 
no  other  apparel  to  clothe  or  to  sleep  withal  than  their  own 
flaps ; of  cannibals,  whose  cruel  outrages  have  made  all  the 
land  a desert,  “ even  till  you  come  to  the  silk-country ; ” of 


1 Sol.  x.  16. 

2 Sol.  xi.  19,  33;  PI.  iv.  72;  Me. 
II.  ii.  10. 

3 Sol.  xii.  2;  PI.  iv.  76.  He 
returns  later — in  xviii.  1 (cf.  PI.  iv. 
93) — to  discuss  the  question  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  its  origin.  Some 
think  it  starts  with  the  inrush  of  the 


ocean  at  the  straits  of  Gades,  or  Gib- 
raltar, the  agitation  of  which  causes 
the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide  to  be 
felt  as  far  as  Italy.  Others,  how- 
ever, think  its  source  is  in  the  Pontus, 
or  Black  Sea,  and  prove  their  theory 
by  the  fact  that  the  tide  from  this 
quarter  has  no  ebb. 


VI.]  SOLINUS  ON  SCYTHIA,  AND  THE  ARCTIC  LANDS.  257 

savages,  who  devour  huge  feasts  of  human  flesh  by  way  of 
burial  festivals,  and  quaff  mead  and  wine  from  drinking 
cups  made  of  the  skulls  of  their  dead  parents.  Others  there 
are  who  offer  strangers  in  sacrifice ; others,  again,  who  live 
at  the  back  of  the  north  wind ; and  a third  race,  who  hunt 
better  with  one  eye  than  most  men  with  two — the  one-eyed 
Arimaspians  of  older  fabulists.1 

In  the  far  north  is  the  land  of  feathers,2  where  Solinus 
makes  the  snow  fall  as  if  Pagan  Jupiter,  in  the  words  of 
the  French  jest,  were  plucking  geese  upon  Olympus.  “ A 
damned  part  of  the  world  is  this,  drowned  by  the  nature 
of  things  in  a cloud  of  endless  darkness,  and  utterly  shut  up 
in  extreme  cold  as  in  a prison,  even  under  the  very  north  pole. 
Alone,  of  all  lands,  it  knoweth  no  distinction  of  times,  neither 
receiveth  it  anything  else  of  the  air  than  endless  winter.”  3 

In  the  Asiatic  Scythia  there  are  rich  lands,  he  continues, 
and  one  might  hope  to  gain  a footing  there,  but  no  such 
thing  was  possible.  Although  they  abound  in  gold  and 
precious  stones,4  the  Gryphons,  “ a most  fierce  kind  of  fowl 
and  cruel  beyond  all  cruelness,”  tear  in  pieces  any  intruder, 
“as  creatures  made  of  purpose  to  punish  the  rashness  of 
covetous  folk.” 

The  far  Northern  lands  beyond  were  placed  by  some,  says 
Solinus  doubtfully,  between  sunrising  and  sunset,  between 
the  west  of  our  Antipodes  and  our  east,  but  this  was  against 
reason,  considering  what  a waste  sea  ran  between  the  two 
worlds.  In  any  case  the  poles  or  hinges  of  the  earth  were 


1 Cf.  Sol.xiii.  2;  Pl.viii.109.  Also 
Sol.  xv.  1,  2;  PL  iv.  88 ; Me.  II.  i.  6, 
13 : Sol.  xv.  4 ; Me.  II.  i.  13 ; PI.  vi. 
53,  54:  Sol.  xv.  13,  14,  xvi.  2;  Me. 
II.  i.  9. 

2 Sol.  xv.  20,  21 ; PI.  vii.  10. 

3 A little  later,  however  (xvi.  3), 


he  speaks  of  the  same  country  as 
blessed,  according  to  some,  with  six 
months’  continual  sun. 

4  Sol.  xv.  22 ; PI.  vii.  10.  Especially 
emeralds,  says  Solinus, — a startling 
novelty. 


S 


258 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


commonly  thought  to  be  there,  and  the  uttermost  circuit  of 
the  stars. 

Among  the  Cimmerians,  Amazons,  and  other  races  of 
these  parts  lies  the  Caspian  Sea,  which  falls  into  the  Icy  Sea, 
or  Scythian  Ocean ; is  sweetened  by  the  multitude  of  fresh- 
water streams  that  flow  into  it ; 1 and  has  the  curious  property 
of  growing  emptier  with  rain  and  fuller  with  drought.  Thus 
Solinus  repeats  the  mistakes  of  so  many  ancient  geographers, 
between  Herodotus  who  first  corrected  the  popular  notions, 
and  Ptolemy  who  described  and  drew  the  great  Salt  Lake 
with  only  an  error  of  direction,  twisting  its  length  round,  as 
it  were,  and  making  it  lie  in  a direction  from  east  to  west, 
instead  of  from  north  to  south. 

A long  way  from  hence,  the  Hyrcanians,2  we  are  told, 
possess  the  mouths  of  the  Oxus,  in  a country  where  the 
tigers  are  peculiarly  obnoxious;  and  about  these  and  the 
panthers  and  “libbards”  of  the  same  region  Solinus  expatiates 
for  some  time,  collecting  many  facts  interesting  to  the 
mediaeval  Bestiaries.  Thus  the  cat-like  tenacity  of  such  big 
felines  is  illustrated  by  the  difficulty  of  killing  them — “ for 
they  live  a great  while  after  their  bowels  be  taken  out,” — 
and  the  rest  of  the  description  of  Scythia  and  the  far  North 
(save  for  certain  legends  of  the  journeys  of  Alexander  the 
Great — from  India  to  Bactria  in  eight  days,  and  to  the  frozen 
and  dead  seas  of  the  Arctic  regions  beyond  the  remotest 
“ featherland  ”)  is  almost  entirely  taken  up  with  minerals, 
and  the  natural  history  of  curious  animals,  such  as  the 
goat-stags,  for  whom  later  mythologists  depended  upon 
Solinus  himself.3 


1  About  the  sweetness  and  whole- 
someness of  the  Caspian  water  there 
can  be  no  possible  doubt,  as  both 
Alexander  and  Pompey  drank  of  it 

to  see  if  this  tale  were  true  (Sol.  xix. 

3;  PI.  vi.  50-52). 


2 Sol.  xvii.  3,  4,  10;  Pl.viii.62, 66, 
100. 

3 Cf.  Sol.  xix.  2,  4,  5,  9-19;  PI. 
vi.  39,  iv.  94,  viii.  113-120,  xxviii.  149, 
150,  226. 


VI.]  SOLINUS  ON  GERMANY  AND  GAUL.  259 

The  fourth  part  of  this  collection1  brings  us  back  to 
Europe,  and  begins  with  Germany,  proceeding  on  to  treat 
of  Gaul,  Britain,  Spain,  and  the  furthest  West. 

Germany  stretches,  according  to  our  present  guide, 
between  the  Hercynian  Wood  and  the  Sarmatian  rocks. 
“ Where  it  beginneth,  it  is  watered  by  Danube,  and  where 
it  endeth,  by  Rhine, ” while  from  the  heart  of  this  land  Elbe 
and  Vistula  run  into  the  ocean.  Chief  of  German  wonders 
are  the  Hercynian  birds,  whose  feathers  give  light  in  the 
dark,  “ be  the  night  never  so  close  and  cloudy ; ” likewise 
an  exquisite  creature,  like  a mule,  with  such  a long  upper 
lip  that  he  “ cannot  feed  except  walking  backward ; ” 2 and 
the  thunder-stones  (“  ceraunies  ”),  which  “ draw  the  bright- 
ness of  the  stars  to  themselves,”  and  were  evidently  some 
kind  of  felspar  or  silicate.3 

Over  against  Germany  is  Scandinavia — the  “ isle  Gan- 
gavia” — greatest  of  all  the  German  isles,  but  “having  nothing 
great  except  itself” — no  marvels,  no  pleasant  legends.4 

Crystal  and  amber,  called  by  the  natives  “ glass  ” 5 
(gkesum),  came  from  another  part  of  the  German  Sea — the 
island  Glesaria, — and  this,  Solinus  adds,  was  the  best  amber 
in  the  world,  though  he  warns  us  with  conscientious  care 
that  India  produced  it  also,  but  of  inferior  quality. 

From  Germany  we  come  to  Gaul,  between  Rhine  and 
Pyrenees,  between  the  ocean  and  the  Jura  Mountains.  About 
the  customs  of  the  country,  Solinus  only  mentions  in  a 
doubtful  way  the  human  sacrifices  of  the  Druids.  In  fact, 
his  mythology  almost  deserts  him  here ; he  merely  tells  us 
that  from  Gaul  we  may  “ go  into  what  part  of  the  world  we 


1 Sol.  xx.,  etc. ; PI.  iv.  80,  etc. 

2 His  counterfeit  is  pourtrayed 

with  beautiful,  fidelity  on  the  map  of 

Hereford. 


3 E.g.  “ double  silicate.” 

4 Sol.  xx.  7,  8-13;  PL  viii.  39, 
xxxvii.  23,  37-50 ; iv.  36,  37,  97. 

5 So  Golding. 


260  GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY.  [Ch. 


will,”  and  at  once  takes  us  across  tlie  Channel  into 
Britain.1 


The  sea  coast  of  Gaul,  he  declares,  would  have  been  the 
end  of  the  earth,  but  that  the  isle  of  Britain  had  almost 
deserved  the  name  of  another  world.  In  length  it  was  eight 
hundred  miles,  measuring  to  the  extremity  of  Caledonia, 
“ in  which  nook  an  altar  engraven  with  Greek  letters  bore 
witness  that  Ulysses  arrived  there.” 

Of  the  many  and  not  unrenowned  islands  that  surrounded 
Britain,  Ireland  was  chief,  with  “uncivil  inhabiters,”  and 
fat  pastures — so  fat,  indeed,  that  the  Irish  cattle  would  burst 
if  not  sometimes  forcibly  kept  from  feeding.  No  snakes  lived 
there,  and  few  birds.  Those  Irish  warriors  who  loved  to  be 
tine,  trimmed  their  sword  hilts  with  the  teeth  of  sea  monsters. 
Right  and  wrong  were  all  one  in  Ireland.  The  sea  between 
Britain  and  its  chief  satellite,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
in  breadth,  was  so  rough  and  stormy  that  it  could  only  be 
sailed  for  a few  days  in  summer  time.  The  troublous  sea 
also  cut  off  Britain  from  the  Isle  of  Man,  where  every  one, 
man  and  woman  alike,  could  foretell  future  events ; just  as 
Thanet2  “upon  the  strait  of  Gaul,”  which  had  the  same 
anti-venomous  properties  as  Ireland,  was  separated  from 
Britain  by  an  arm  of  the  same  ocean.  Of  the  other  islands 
round  Britain,  Thyle  or  Ultima  Thule  (Shetlands  ?)  was  the 
furthest,  the  last  point  of  known  land  towards  the  north, 
where  the  summer  sun  almost  totally  destroyed  the  night, 
and  the  winter  darkness  scarcely  allowed  any  daylight  to 
exist.  Beyond  Thule  there  was  only  the  sluggish  and 
frozen  sea  ; 3 but  further  south,  and  nearer  to  Britain,  Solinus 
mentions  the  Hebrides  and  the  Orkneys;  the  latter  he 


1 Sol.  xxi.  1-xxii.  1 ; PI.  iv.  105. 

2 Not  only  would  no  snakes  live  in 

it,  but  a little  Thanet  earth  always 
expelled  snakes  from  any  other  part 


of  the  world. 

3  Sol.  xxii.  9.  Cf.  Dicuil  on  Ice- 
land, vii.  11-13. 


VI.] 


SOLINUS  ON  BRITISH  ISLES  AND  SPAIN. 


261 


describes  as  uninhabited,  and  puts  altogether  out  of  place 
between  the  main  ‘land  and  the  Hebrides,  at  a point  much 
further  from  Thule  than  the  northernmost  promontory  of 
Caledonia.1 

The  circuit  of  Britain  Solinus  gives,  after  Pliny,  at  4875 
miles  ; and  of  the  marvels  of  its  “ inner  country  ” he  notices 
the  excellent  rivers,  the  hot  springs  at  Bath,  the  black  jewel 
called  jet,  and  the  customs  of  tattoo  and  flesh  embroidery. 

Coming  back  to  the  Continent,  Solinus  next  treats  of 
Spain  and  the  isles  thereof;  of  the  ocean;  of  the  “Midland,” 
or  “ Roman,”  Sea ; and  of  the  tides. 

In  Lusitania  (Portugal)  he  notes  especially  a promontory, 
which  is  called  by  some  Olisipo  (Lisbon),  “ dividing  heaven, 
earth,  and  sea,”  and  forming  the  natural  end  of  Spain  on  one 
side.  At  the  circuit  of  it  beginneth  the  sea  of  Gaul  and  the 
north  coast,  and  at  the  same  endeth  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
Here  was  Olisipo  founded  by  Ulysses ; here  flows  the  Tagus, 
preferred  before  all  streams  for  its  golden  sands ; hereby  the 
mares  conceived  by  the  breath  of  the  south  wind — thus 
Solinus  wrings  the  poetry  out  of  the  old  myth  of  the  Spanish 
jennets,  which  were  “ swift  as  children  of  the  wind.,”  2 

The  Tin  Islands,  or  Cassiterides,  fertile  in  lead,  proceeds 
the  compiler,  are  opposite  to  Celtiberia,  as  are  also  the  For- 
tunate Islands,  which  have  nothing  remarkable  but  their 
name.3 

At  the  head  of  Baetica,  the  later  Andalus,  where  is  the 
end  of  the  known  world,  is  an  island,  Gades,  the  modern 
Cadiz,  seven  hundred  feet  only  from  the  mainland,  “ which 
the  Tyrians,  setting  out  from  the  Red  Sea,  called  Eryth,  and 
the  Carthaginians,  in  their  own  language,  named  Gadir — 

1 Sol.  xxii.  2-9 ; PI.  iv.  102-104 ; 

Me.  III.  vi.  6. 

2 Sol.  xxiii.  1-8;  PI.  iv.  113-119, 


viii.  166  ; Me.  II.  vi.  2. 

3 Sol.  xxiii.  10  ; PI.  iv.  119. 


262 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


that  is,  a hedge ; ” and  here,  at  the  Strait  of  Gades,  is  the 
point  where  the  Atlantic  tides  rush  in  and  divide  “ our  ” 
(Mediterranean)  world.  For  the  ocean,  which  the  Greeks 
so  call  because  of  its  swiftness,  breaking  in  at  the  sunset 
place,  tears  away  Europe  on  the  left,  from  Africa  on  the 
right ; having  cut  asunder  Calpe  and  Abyla,  “ which  are 
called  Hercules  his  Pillars.”  At  this  strait,  which  is  in 
length  fifteen  miles,  but  in  breadth  scarce  seven,  the  ocean 
opens  the  bars  of  the  inner  sea  like  a gate,  mingling  with 
the  Mediterranean  gulf,  and  pressing  on  towards  the  east  in 
the  very  “ lap  or  groin  ” of  the  world.1 

From  the  ocean  we  come  next  to  its  most  remarkable 
phenomenon — the  tides.  As  to  their  nature  and  cause, 
Solinus  is  disposed  to  think  them  the  breath,  as  it  were,  of 
the  nostrils  of  the  great  deep — conceiving  of  the  world  as  a 
living  creature, — though  he  mentions  the  opinion  of  others, 
that  the  ebb  and  flow  were  governed  by  the  changes  of  the 
moon.2  * 

The  fifth  part  of  the  “ Collectanea  ” brings  us  to  Africa  ; 
and  we  enter  an  enchanted  land,  from  the  Orchards  of  the 
Sisters  called  Hesperides,  to  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt,  and 
from  the  Mount  Atlas  to  the  monstrous  tribes  with  which 
Solinus  fringes  the  Southern  Ocean. 

First,  however,  as  to  the  Hesperides  and  their  Orchard, 
Solinus  begins  by  being  a little  critical.  The  encircling 
dragon  is  nothing  but  an  arm  of  the  sea,  with  serpentine 
windings.  The  golden  apples  are  as  much  a fable  as  the 
dragon.  “ But  this  is  a greater  wonder  than  the  fruit  trees 
or  leafy  gold,  that  though  the  ground  be  lower  than  the 
level  of  the  sea,  the  tide  never  overflows  it,  but  the  waves,  of 
their  own  accord,  stand  still  in  a circle  at  the  innermost  of 
the  sea  banks.”  3 

1 Sol.  xxiii.  12-17 ; PI.  iii.  3 ; iv. 

119,  120. 


2 Sol.  xxiii.  17-22 ; Me.  III.  i.  1, 2. 
8 Sol.  xxiv.  1-8 ; PI.  v.  2-6. 


VI.] 


SOLINUS  ON  AFRICA. 


263 


Mount  Atlas  rises  from  the  sandy  wastes,  and,  reaching 
close  to  the  moon,  hides  its  head  above  the  clouds.  He  is 
bare  towards  the  ocean,  fruitful  towards  the  inland ; his 
head  is  always  covered  with  snow,  his  sides  swarm  with  wild 
beasts.  “All  day  long  there  is  no  noise,  but  all  is  whist, 
not  without  a horror ; but  in  the  night  he  blazes  with  fire, 
and  resounds  on  every  side  with  the  choirs  of  satyrs,  and  all 
along  the  seashore  is  heard  the  sound  of  shawms  and  playing 
upon  cymbals.”  1 

The  rivers  about  Atlas,  Solinus  declares,  are  not  to  be 
wholly  passed  over;  especially  Bambotum,  which  swarms 
with  river-horses  and  crocodiles;  and  the  Black  Stream 
of  Mger  beyond,  which  flows  through  the  scorching  deserts, 
that  are  boiled  perpetually  with  immeasurable  heat  of  the 
parching  sun,  burning  hotter  than  any  fire.2 

In  the  Moorland  of  Tangiers,  Solinus  chiefly  “ entreats  of 
elephants,”  with  a precision  and  critical  care  that  would  be 
interesting  if  it  were  not  all  too  daringly  “ hypothetical ; ” 
and  a certainty  quite  as  great,  and  as  little  supported  by 
facts,  follows  him  in  his  next  discourse — “ Of  Mimidia  and 
the  Bears  thereof.”  3 

'■  The  next  marvel  of  Africa  is  found  in  the  sandbanks  of 
the  Syrtes,  where  the  ground,  as  Yarro  related,  is  so  rotten 
that  “ the  air  alters  the  upper  part  of  it ; ” and  then,  after 
mentioning  the  Mger,  “ which  brings  forth  the  Mle,”  and 
separates  all  this  region  from  Ethiopia  and  Asia,4  Solinus 
plunges  again  into  his  bestiary.  And  now  we  hear  of  lions, 
“ who  never  look  asquint,  and  cannot  bear  that  any  should 
look  asquint  upon  them ; ” and  of  hyenas,  whose  backbones 
are  without  joints,  whose  very  shadows  rob  dogs  of  their 

1 Sol.  xxiy.  9 ; PI.  y.  14,  15.  (passim ),  esp.  1-34,  100. 

2 Sol.  xxiv.;  14,  15 ; PI.  v.  8,  10,  4 Sol.  xxvii.  1-5  ; PI.  v.  23,  30,  32  ; 

13-15.  ii.  218,  etc. 

3 Sol.  xxv.  1-xxvii.  1 : Pi.  yiii. 


264 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY 


[Ch. 


bark,  and  in  whose  eyes  lies  a wondrous  stone,  which,  put 
under  any  man’s  tongue,  “ doth  give:  him  power  to  tell  of 
things  to  come.”  As  to  other  features  of  the  animal  king- 
dom, “ Africa  swarmeth  in  such  wise  with  serpents,  that  it 
may  worthily  challenge  the  pre-eminence  in  that  mischief 
from  all  the  world.” 1 

In  the  great  Oases  of  Fezzan,  south  of  the  Syrtes,  are 
the  “ Charmers,”  who  cannot  die  from  snake-bites — at  least, 
the  genuine  members  of  the  race.  “But  if  their  women 
bear  offspring  of  adultery,”  they  perish  in  this  way.  So  an 
easy  test  of  virtue  is  in  vogue.  They  throw  all  their  new- 
born babes  to  serpents,  and  the  sin  of  the  mothers,  or  the 
privilege  of  the  fathers’  blood,  is  punished  or  proved  accord- 
ingly. Unhappily,  this  interesting  people  has  long  since 
been  exterminated.2  Nobody  can  be  allowed  to  have  any 
doubts  about  the  lotus-eaters;  for  they  are  really  found, 
according  to  Solinus,  in  the  innermost  recesses  of  the  great 
Syrtes  ; and  with  this  3 our  author  “ falleth  again  to  discourse 
of  ” beasts,  plants,  and  minerals ; and  is  specially  instructive 
upon  the  cockatrice,  or  basilisk,  that  unique  horror,  “ which 
dries  up  and  destroys  the  very  earth,  and  infecteth  the  very 
air.”  No  bird  can  fly  over  him;  all  -other  serpents  are 
horribly  afraid  to  hear  his  hissing.  What  he  killeth  no 
fowl  and  no  beast  will  touch.  His  motion  is  as  terrible  as 
his  bite  and  breath — “ with  one  half  he  creepeth,  with  the 
other  he  avaunceth  himself  aloft.  And  yet,  for  all  this,  he  is 
overcome  of  weasels.”  God,  exclaims  the  pious  translator 
exultingly,  hath  provided  a remedy  for  every  mischief.4 

Passing  on  to  the  apes  of  the  “land  between  Egypt, 
Ethiopia,  and  Libya  ” (wherever  that  may  be),  Solinus  begs 


1  Sol.  | xxvii.  6-28;  PL  viii.  85; 

xxvii.  23 ; and  v.  passim,  esp.  5,  22- 

21,  28. 


2 Sol.  xxvii.  41,  42 ; PI.  v.  27,  etc. 

3 Sol.  xxvii.  43  ; PI.  v.  28. 

4 Sol.  xxvii.  50-53 ; PI.  viii.  78, 79. 


VI.] 


SOLINUS  ON  AFRICA. 


265 


his  readers  not  to  be  vexed  at  a little  digression  about  these 
animals,  “ for  it  is  not  expedient  to  omit  anything  in  which 
the  providence  of  nature  is  seen.”  1 Besides  the  common 
variety  who  daub  their  eyes  with  bird-lime,  in  imitation  of 
hunters  washing  theirs  with  water,  “ and  so  are  more  easily 
taken,”  is  also  a species  of  jovial  ape,  which  makes  merry  at 
the  new  of  the  moon,  and  becomes  sad  when  she  is  in  the 
wane ; together  with  the  Dog-headed  Simians  of  Ethiopia, 
“ never  so  tame  but  that  they  be  more  rather  wild,”  and  the 
shaggy-haired  sphinxes  and  satyrs,  gentle  and  docile,  and 
“easily  taught  to  forget  their  wildness,  very  sweet  faced, 
and  full  of  toying  continually.”  2 

The  “ salt  houses,”  built  with  salt  blocks  as  if  with  stone, 
of  the  inland  tribes  that  traffic  with  the  Troglodites,  are 
next  described ; 3 and  then  the  Ethiopians  claim  attention, 
divided  from  the  tribes  of  Atlas  by  the  river  Niger,  which  is 
“ thought  to  be  part  of  the  Nile,”  4 for  it  has  the  same 
papyrus,  it  is  fringed  with  the  same  rushes,  it  brings  forth 
the  same  animals,  and  it  overflows  at  the  same  time  of  year. 

From  the  queer  animals  we  come  to  the  queer  peoples  of 
Ethiopia ; and  among  these  are  the  Nomades,  who  live  on  the 
milk  of  the  dog-headed  apes — a rather  feeble  and  uncertain 
sustenance,  one  would  think ; the  Syrbots,  “ lazy  things  of 
twelve  feet  long ; ” the  race  that  has  a dog  for  king ; and  the 
people  of  the  coast  who  are  said  to  have  four  eyes  apiece,  but 
whose  peculiar  advantages  are  explained  away  as  only  meaning 
that  their  sight  is  a good  deal  sharper  than  other  folks’. 

By  way  of  contrast,  perhaps,  their  near  neighbours,  the 
“ wild-  (or  wolfish-)  eaters,”  are  endowed  with  a sovereign  who 


1 Sol.  xxvii.  55,  56 ; PI.  viii.  215. 

2 Sol.  xxvii.  57, 60;  PI.  viii.  72,  216. 

3 Sol.  xxviii.  1 ; PI.  v.  34. 

4 Sol.  xxx.  1 ; PL  v.  30,  44,  45,  53. 


After  a notice  of  the  Garamantes  of 
Fezzan  and  their  marvellous  (?  Hero- 
dotean)  fountain  at  Debris,  cold  by 
day  and  boiling  hot  by  night. 


266 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


has  only  one  eye,  in  the  middle  of  his  forehead ; and  beyond 
this  tribe  are  several  equally  voracious — the  “ Eat-alls,”  who 
“ feed  of  all  things  that  may  be  chewed ; ” the  Cannibals ; the 
Bitch-milkers,  “who  have  long  snouts  and  chaps  like  dogs;” 
and  the  Locust-eaters,1  whose  food  has  the  disastrous  effect  of 
__  shortening  life  to  a maximum  of  forty  years. 

From  the  Ocean  or  Atlantic  to  Meroe  on  the  Nubian  Nile 
is  a distance,  we  learn,  of  only  620  miles,  about  three-quarters 
of  the  length  of  Britain;  further  to  the  east,  beyond  the 
great  river,  are  the  long-lived  or  blameless  Ethiopians  of 
Homer  and  Herodotus  (with  their  standing  repast  at  the 
Table  of  the  Sun),  and  the  deserts  that  stretch  onwards  to 
Arabia.2  And  then,  in  the  furthest  point  of  Africa  towards 
r the  sunrise,  we  come  to  the  monstrous  tribes  that  fringe  the 
torrid  zone  in  our  own  Psalter  and  Hereford  mappemondes ; 
some  with  their  ugly  faces  wholly  “ plain  without  a nose ; ” 
others  without  tongues,  who  use  gesture  instead  of  speech ; 
others  with  mouths  all  grown  together,  save  for  a little  hole 
by  which  they  suck  in  sustenance  through  an  oaten  pipe. 
The  South  of  Ethiopia  is  “ set  thick  with  woods,”  and  on  this 
side  is  a burning  mountain,  in  whose  fires  thrive  many 
dragons.  It  is  a great  point,  adds  Solinus,  to  distinguish 
the  true  dragons  from  the  false ; the  real  ones  have  small 
mouths,  and  sting  through  their  tails.  Likewise  true  infor- 
mation is  much  to  be  desired  about  the  camelopards  or 
giraffes  of  these  parts ; about  the  ants  of  the  Niger,  as  big 
as  mastiffs,  who  dig  in  its  sands  of  gold;  about  the  chameleons 
“ with  their  thin  smug  skins  like  glass ; ” and  especially 
about  the  “bird  Pegasus,”  which  has  nothing  of  a horse 
except  its  ears.3 

1 Sol.  xxx.  4-8 ; PI.  vi.  190-194. 

2 Sol.  xxx.  9-12;  PI.  vi.  196;  Me. 

III.  ix.  1-3. 


3 Sol.  xxx.  13-29 ; PI.  vi.  197 ; viii. 
69,  122 ; ix.  87,  etc. : Me.  III.  ix.  4. 


VI.]  SOLINUS  ON  THE  NILE  AND  MONSTROUS  RACES.  267 


Again  reverting  to  the  people  of  the  desert,  Solinus  gives 
ns  a list  of  tribes  “ withdrawn  into  the  pathless  wilderness,” 
all  with  something  unusual  and  inhuman  about  them ; — the 
men  of  Atlas  who  curse  the  sun  that  galls  them  from  dawn 
to  dusk,  who  never  dream,  have  no  language,  and  are  quite 
void  of  civility ; the  Troglodytes,  devoted  to  poverty,  who 
live  without  coveting  ; the  devil-worshippers  ; the  headless 
Blemmyes,  with  eyes  and  mouth  in  breast ; and  last  of  all, 
the  Crooklegs,  who  “rather  slide  than  walk.”1  ( 

The  mention  of  Egypt  now  brings  Solinus  to  his  account 
of  the  Nile.  It  rises,  he  tells  us  almost  in  Pliny’s  words, 
close  to  the  Western  Ocean,  forms  a lake  called  Nilides  at  a 
little  distance  from  its  source,  is  then  lost  for  a while  in  the 
sands,  emerges  again  in  the  “ Caesarean  cave,”  again  sinks 
below  the  ground,  and  reappears  among  the  Ethiopians,  where 
it  throws  off  the  arm  of  the  Niger2  and  forms  many  great 
islands.3  Then  rushing  down  the  Cataracts,  it  turns  finally 
to  the  north,  encircles  the  South  of  Egypt,  and  runs  into  the 
sea  by  seven  mouths.  As  to  the  causes  of  the  yearly  Nile 
flood  (between  July  19th  and  August  11th),  Solinus  tells  us 
that  the  Egyptian  priests  considered  this  time  to  be  an 
anniversary  of  the  world’s  birthday.  The  marvels  of  the 
stream — the  crocodiles  without  tongues,  who  keep  truce  with 
men  for  the  seven  days  of  the  Apis  festival,  allow  their  jaws 
to  be  cleaned  by  a little  bird,  and  are  killed  by  Pharaoh’s 
rats  (the  ichneumons) ; the  bold  men  of  low  stature,  living  on 
an  island  in  the  Nile,  who  train  the  crocodiles  to  be  their 
river-horses ; the  ibises,  who  guard  men  from  the  winged 
snakes  of  Arabia ; and  all  the  other  wonders — are  lovingly 
and  lengthily  described,  and  something  is  added  about  a 

1 Sol.  xxxi.  1-6 ; PL  v.  43, 45, 128 ; Blacks. 

xxxvii.  167.  3 Such  as  Meroe. 

2 The  "Western  Nile,  or  Nile  of  the 


268 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Oh. 


human  portent,  a race  living  on  the  borders  of  Egypt,  who 
tell  the  New  Year  by  the  motions  of  animals.1 

From  the  Nile  it  is  but  a short  step  to  the  Pyramids. 
And  these,  Solinus  tells  us,  are  towers  lofty  beyond  the  reach 
of  man,  and  with  a singular  characteristic.  “ Forasmuch  as 
they  pass  the  measure  of  shadows,  they  have  no  shadows  at 
all.” 2 

Here  we  leave  Africa,  and  enter  the  sixth  and  last  portion 
of  our  Survey  with  Asia.  Passing  by  Arabia  and  its  phoenix, 
spices,  and  flying  snakes  or  dragons,3  we  pass  into  Syria  at 
Joppa,  the  oldest  town  in  the  world,  built  before  the  flood, 
where  Andromeda’s  monster  was  long  preserved.  The  people 
of  the  place  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  measuring  it  at  their 
pleasure,  and  certified  its  ribs  to  be  forty  feet  long.4  From 
Joppa  to  Jerusalem,  “ the  old  head  of  Judea,  now  destroyed,”  5 
we  come  to  the  Dead  Sea,  or  Lake  Asphaltitis,  which  contains 
no  living  thing,  but  in  which  nothing  can  sink,  and  to  the 
“ sorrowful  coast,  once  stricken  from  heaven,”  where  grow 
only  the  apples  of  Sodom  on  the  black  ash-covered  soiL 
This  fruit  looks  ripe  enough  without,  but  within  “ is  a cinder- 
soot,  which  at  every  light  touch  puffs  forth  like  a smoke, 
and  crumbles  into  loose  dust.” 6 After  this  story,  which  is 
also  alluded  to  by  Josephus  and  Tacitus,  and  by  several  of 
the  Christian  pilgrim-travellers  in  later  time,  the  fabulist, 
proceeding  northward  through  Scythopolis  (founded  by 
Bacchus,  where  he  buried  his  nurse),  brings  us  to  Antioch 
and  Mount  Casius,  and  romances  at  some  length  about  the 


1 Sol.  xxxii.  1-33;  PI.  v.  51-59; 

viii.  89-97 ; Me.  III.  viii.  9. 

2 Sol.  xxxii.  44. 

3 Sol.  xxxiii. ; PI.  v.,  vi.,  and  esp. 
xii.  passim. 

4 Sol.  xxxiv.  1-3;  PI.  v.  68,  69; 

ix.  11. 


5 As  by  Titus  in  a.d.  70.  But 
probably  Solinus’ words  referred  to  the 
complete  extinction  of  the  old  city 
and  name  by  Hadrian  (135-6). 

6 Sol.  xxxv.  8;  Joseph.  B.  J.  IY. 
viii.  4 ; Tac.  Hist.  v.  7. 


VI.]  SOLINUS  ON  PALESTINE,  ASIA  MINOR,  ETC.  269 


height  of  this  mountain,  from  the  top  of  which  day  still 
appeared  on  one  side  while  deep  night  had  come  up  on  the 
other.1  Hence  to  the  Euphrates,  rich  in  gems,  and  having 
the  selfsame  source  as  the  Nile,  situated  under  the  same 
parallel,  and  rising  into  flood  at  the  same  time  of  year ; to 
the  Tigris,  coming  from  a different  spring ; and  to  the  lake 
Arethusa,  that  can  hear  any  weight,  sinks  twice  below  the 
ground,  and  runs  just  as  swiftly  as  an  arrow  flies.2 

Here  Solinus,3  after  a long  progress  eastward,  abruptly 
turns  to  the  west,  and  details  the  marvels  of  Asia  Minor  ; 
the  Cydnus  of  Cilicia,  which  derived  its  sweetness  from  the 
same  source  as  the  Choaspes  streamlet  in  Persia;  Mount 
Taurus,  where  ends  the  backbone  of  the  world, — the  Imaus, 
the  Niphates,  the  Caucasus  of  Further  Asia ; the  volcano 
Chimsera  of  Lycia ; and  the  beast  Bonacus  of  Phrygia,  able  to 
discharge  its  ordure  over  two  acres  of  ground,  whose  “ lively 
portraiture  ” in  the  Hereford  map  is  one  of  the  features 
of  that  serio-comic  geography  in  which  Solinus  reigned 
supreme.4  Asia  Minor  abounded  also  in  Chameleons,5  who 
•could  not  only  change  colour  at  will,  but  fed  on  air,  and 
had  the  raven  for  their  mortal  enemy,  and  the  bay-leaf  as 
an  antidote  for  the  poison  of  their  flesh.  Cappadocia,  in 
particular,  was  famous  also  for  horses,  some  born  of  the 
wind,  “ but  these  never  live  above  three  years.”  6 

From  Media  comes  the  medicine  tree,  “ enemy  to  venom,” 
a possible  source  (among  others)  of  the  Dry  Tree  or  Arbre 
Sec  of  mediseval  travellers ; and  north  of  this,  in  the  Caspian 
Gates,  is  another  miracle  of  nature.  The  rocks  sweat  salt 
which  the  heat  forms  into  a sort  of  “ summer  ice.”  7 


1 Sol.  xxxvi.  1,3;  PI.  v.  74, 80,  etc. 

2 Sol.  xxxvii.  14-16;  PI.  v.  83,  85, 
90;  vi.  127-130. 

3 Sol.  xxxviii.,  xxxix. ; PL  v.,  esp. 
92,  97-99, 100,  etc. ; Me.  I.  xiii.  3. 

4 Sol.  xl.  10-11 ; PI.  viii.  40. 


5  Often  alluded  to  before  by 
Solinus,  but  now  first  fully  described, 
after  Pliny,  xl.  21-24;  cf.  PI.  viii. 
120-122,  etc. 

6 Sol.  xlv.  5-18 ; PI.  viii.  155-166. 

7 Sol.  xlvii.  1 ; PI.  vi.  43-46. 


270 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 

Crossing  the  Oxus  and  the  Jaxartes,  and  passing  the 
furthest  point  of  Alexander’s  inarch,  we  now  traverse  the 
snows  and  deserts  of  Scythia,  (skirting  the  Cannibal-land  we 
have  already  sighted  once  before,  and  various  tracts  full  of 
outrageous  wild  beasts,1)  before  coming  at  last  to  the  Seres 
and  the  Land  of  Silk  on  the  western  side  of  China.  Like 
Virgil,  Solinus  believed  the  soft  and  precious  “ wool  ” was 
combed  off  the  leaves  of  trees.  Then,  as  now,  its  “ Celestial  ” 
possessors  kept  their  secrets  closely,  avoided  all  import 
traffic,  and  jealously  excluded  strangers.2 

But,  to  our  compiler,  Silkland  was  not  the  end  of  the 
Continent,  as  it  is  to  us ; that  place  he  reserves  for  India,3 
which  he  seems  to  put  (according  to  the  guidance  of  hi& 
authorities) 4 directly  opposite  Gaul.  “ Of  old  it  was 
believed  to  be  the  third  part  of  the  world.”  In  marvels  it 
was  prodigal.  The  famous  islands  of  gold  and  silver5 — 
Chryse  and  Argyre — were  to  be  found  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Indus ; and  among  strange  people  the  imagination 
could  revel. 

There  were  many  so  tall  that  they  could  vault  over 
elephants  as  if  they  were  horses;  there  were  the  Fakirs,  or 
Gymnosophists, — philosophers  who  went  stark  naked ; there 
were  tribes  who  had  their  feet  turned  backwards,  with  eight 
toes  on  each ; others  living  in  the  hills,  who  had  dogs’  heads 
and  talons  for  fingers,  and  “barked  for  speech others,  again, 
with  one  leg,  but  feet  so  huge,  to  atone  for  this  deficiency, 
that  they  could  use  them  for  shade  against  the  sun ; others,  at 
the  sources  of  the  Ganges,  who  lived  by  the  smell  of  fruit.6 

Suttee  is  described  by  Solinus,  apparently  from  some 


1 Sol.  xlix. ; PI.  vi.  22, 49-54. 

2 Sol.  1.  2-4,  PI.  vi.  54,  88. 

3 Sol.  lii. ; PI.  vi. 

4 Especially  Posidonius. 

5 Sol.  lii.  17,  PI.  vi.  80.  Cf.  Mela, 


III. 

6  Sol.  lii.  20-30;  PI.  vi.  79;  vii. 
22-28.  On  these  Cynocephali,  Skia- 
pods,  etc.,  see  pp.  335-338. 


VI.]  SOLINUS  ON  INDIA  AND  SERICA.  271 

independent  source,  and  from  monstrous  men  we  wander  off 
again  to  monstrous  animals, — the  eels  and  the  yellow  oxen 
with  flexible  horns,  the  unicorns,  the  “ worms  with  arms  six 
cubits  long  (?  octopuses),  who  hold  elephants  under  water; 
the  whales  that  coyer  four  acres  of  ground,  and  the  rest  of 
Pliny’s  wonders.1  Among  trees,  there  are  the  pepper-plants, 
that  look  towards  the  sunrising ; among  gems,  the  diamond 
or  adamant,  which  will  counteract  the  loadstone2  in  its 
power  of  attracting  iron.3 

Till  the  courage  of  great  Alexander  discovered  and 
explored  Taprobane,  or  Ceylon,  we  are  told,  this  island  was 
believed  to  he  the  other  world  of  the  Antipodes.  Now  it  is 
known  to  lie  only  seven  days’  sail  from  the  coast  of  India, 
in  full  view  of  Canopus,  though  entirely  outside  the  circle 
of  the  Northern  stars,  and  having  sunrise  upon  its  right  and 
sunset  upon  its  left.  As  the  stars  are  no  good  here,  birds 
indicate  the  mariner’s  route  during  the  four  months  in  which 
alone  their  seas  can  he  navigated.  The  greater  part  of  the 
island  is  a wilderness  parched  with  heat — a cruel  libel  upon 
one  of  the  richest  of  all  countries — but  its  mountains  are  so 
lofty  that  from  their  summits  the  sea-coast  of  the  Seres  or  of 
Silkland  may  be  seen.4 

Here  we  draw  towards  a conclusion.  Briefly  indicating 
the  main  routes  from  Persia  and  Egypt  to  India;  and 
noticing  a few  marvels  in  the  Southern  Ocean,  such  as  the 
ever-glowing  and  unapproachable  Island  of  the  Sun ; 5 Solinus 
ends  his  work  with  a description  of  the  Outer  Sea,  “ where  it 
begins  to  be  called  Atlantic.” 6 With  remarkable  caution. 


1 Sol.  lii.  34-42 ; PI.  viii.  72-76 ; 
ix.  4, 8,  46. 

2 So  far  the  magnet  was  known  to 

the  ancients,  but  not  its  polar  pro- 

perties. Of.  Claudian,  Idyl  y. 


3 Sol.  lii.  50-64;  PI.  xii.  andxxxvii. 
passim ; esp.  xii.  26,  xxxvii.  61. 

4 Sol.  liii.  1-21 ; PI.  vi.  82-91. 

5 Sol.  liv.  4 ; PI.  vi.  97-98. 

6 Sol.  lyi.  4 ; PI.  vi.  pass. 


272 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


LCh. 


lie  ventures  to  doubt  the  common  assertion  that  no  one 
could  sail  in  the  tropical  and  burning  waters  beyond 
Ethiopia.  For  King  Juba,  he  had  read,  maintained  that  the 
water-way  was  open  from  India  to  Spain : and  merchants 
attempting  the  passage  had  found  these  parched  coasts  far 
from  destitute  of  inhabitants;  besides  the  harmless  fish- 
eaters  and  Troglodytes,  there  were  the  troublesome  Arab 
pirates,  who  harassed  strangers  not  a little.1 

To  Solinus  this  tale  was  interesting,  not  so  much 
because  it  challenged  the  common  tradition  as  because  it 
added  another  marvel  to  his  stock.  Men  were  not  then 
accustomed  to  sail  round  Africa,  or  to  believe  in  the 
possibility  of  this  feat ; so  he  dwells  affectionately  on  state- 
ments in  favour  of  it. 

To  the  same  end  are  his  stories  of  the  Gorgon  islands, 
over  against  the  Western  Horn  of  Africa,  whence  Hanno 
brought  back  the  Gorgon  or  gorilla-skins  to  Carthage; 
of  the  Hesperian  Island,  a sail  of  forty  days  from  the 
Continent 2 ; and  of  the  Fortunate  Islands,  on  the  left  side  of 
Mauritania  or  Barbary,  where  the  thick  fogs  and  snowstorms 
ever  abide  over  Nivaria  or  Teneriffe  (?),  and  where,  in  the 
island  of  Canaria,  the  huge  dogs  are  found  who  give  their 
name  to  the  Canary  Group.3 

Those  who  care  to  believe  that  in  this  tradition  Solinus 
preserves  a memory  of  the  West  African  islands  may,  of 
course,  do  so.  They  must  be  easily  satisfied,  if  they  can 
recognise,  in  a description  that  would  apply  to  Iceland,  the 
eternal  summer  of  any  of  those  “ Fortunate  ” islands  which  we 
know  as  Canaries,  Azores,  Cape  Yerdes  or  Madeiras. 

Solinus  retains  the  ancient  names — Junonia,  Capraria, 
Nivaria,  Canaria — the  isle  of  Juno,  the  isle  of  goats,  the  isle 

Letters  to  Atticus,  ii.  14,  15. 

3 Sol.  Ivi.  10-19 ; PI.  vi.  200-205. 


1 Sol.  Ivi.  6-8  ; PI.  vi.  7,  175,  176. 

2 As  Statius  Sebosus  (?  the  friend 
of  Catulus)  affirmed.  Cf.  Cicero, 


VI.] 


COSMAS  AS  A MAN  OF  SCIENCE. 


273 


of  snows,  the  isle  of  dogs,  and  the  rest, — but  the  men  of  his 
time  had  quite  lost  the  dim  knowledge  once  possessed  of 
Teneriffe  and  its  attendants ; which  had  given  the  Greeks 
their  story  of  the  giant  Atlas  that  held  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  apart ; which  had  afforded  Ptolemy  his  first  meridian ; 
but  of  which  nothing  but  the  vaguest  notions  ever  obtained 
in  the  Mediterranean  world  of  old. 

II.  Cosmas. 

We  have  already  made  the  acquaintance  of  Cosmas  as  a 
practical  traveller,  in  the  interests  of  trade ; now  we  must 
hear  what  he  has  to  say  about  scientific  geography.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  book  which  he  devoted  to  a description  of 
countries,  and  which  would  have  given  his  really  excel- 
lent qualities  of  observation  a better  chance,  has  perished, 
like  all  his  other  works1 — his  “ Astronomical  Tables,”  his 
Commentaries  on  the  Psalms,  on  the  Song  of  Songs,  and 
on  the  Gospels.  We  have  only  the  “ Christian  Topography,” 
and  in  this  his  object  is  essentially  controversial.  To 
demolish  false  doctrines  about  the  Universe,  and  to  estab- 
lish the  true  one,  to  harmonize  science  and  religion  by 
proving  the  same  things  from  Scripture  and  common  sense 
— this  was  what  he  set  before  himself.  The  aim  was  thus 
at  starting  the  same  as  that  of  every  Christian  thinker.  It 
was  in  the  details  of  execution  that  Cosmas  displayed  his 
surpassing  extravagances. 

In  germ,  much  of  what  he  said  had  been  already 
advanced  by  some  of  the  Pathers,  and  in  after  times  the 
schoolmen  long  continued  to  follow  very  similar  lines  of 
thought. 

1 Except  for  a few  fragments  of  (or  Course  of  Narrative)  of  the  Four 
his  treatises  On  Difficult  Places  in  Gospels, 
the  Psalms,  and  On  the  Arguments 


T 


274 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


“Can  any  one  be  so  foolish,”  asked  Lactantius  (the  “Chris- 
tian Cicero  ”)  in  the  third  century,1  “ as  to  believe  that  there 
are  men  whose  feet  are  higher  than  their  heads,  or  places 
where  things  may  be  hanging  downwards,  trees  ^growing 
backwards,  or  rain  falling  upwards  ? Where  is  the  marvel 
of  the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon  if  we  are  to  allow  of  a 
hanging  world  at  the  Antipodes  ? ” Augustine  and  Chry- 
sostom felt  and  spoke  in  the  same  way,  though  in  more 
measured  language,  and  nearly  all  early  Christian  writers 
who  touched  upon  the  matter  did  so  to  echo  the  voice  of 
authorities  so  unquestioned. 

And  not  only  upon  the  question  of  Antipodes.  For  this 
last  was  commonly  connected  with  a far  more  serious  con- 
troversy, to  which  Cosmas  in  particular  devotes  his  energies 
— the  controversy  on  the  world’s  shape  and  position  in 
the  Universe.  Yet  in  thought  the  two  points  were  per- 
fectly distinct,  and  it  was  quite  consistent  for  a Christian 
Doctor  (like  Raban  Maur  under  the  Karlings)  to  hold  to  the 
one  and  reject  the  other ; to  accept  as  possible  the  sphericity 
of  the  earth,  and  to  deny  with  scorn  the  very  conception  of 
antipodean  peoples.  The  torrid  zone  being,  in  the  opinion 
of  most  men  of  the  Patristic  age,  impassable  from  the  heat, 
it  was  plain  that  the  “opposite  peoples  of  the  South,”  if 
existing,  could  not  be  of  the  race  of  Adam,  or  among  the 
redeemed  of  the  dispensation  of  Christ.  And  from  such 
heresy  men  naturally  shrank. 

But  though  there  was  not  the  same  unanimity  among 
the  Patristics  against  the  spherical  theory  of  antiquity  as 
against  the  special  point  of  the  antipodean  races,  yet  a very 
strong  preponderance  of  opinion  declared  itself  in  favour  of 
substituting  for  “ sphericism  ” the  obvious  truths  of  a flat 
earth,  vaulted  over  by  the  arch  of  heaven ; and  some,  even 
1 Inst.  Div.  iii.  24.  About  290-300  a.d. 


VI.] 


PATRISTIC  PARALLELS  TO  COSMAS. 


275 


in  the  lifetime  of  Augustine,  faintly  conjectured  what 
Cosmas  illustrated  and  established,  beyond  question  from 
obedient  believers.  Diodore  of  Tarsus  and  Severian  of 
Gabala  had  already  suggested  the  comparison  of  the 
Universe  with  a two-storied  or  three-storied  house,  divided 
by  the  firmament,  and  roofed  by  the  Heaven  of  Heavens, — 
150  years  before  Cosmas ; and  on  other  points,  such  as 
the  “ glueing  together  ” of  the  rims  of  heaven  and  earth, 
the  Terrestrial  Paradise  beyond  the  encircling  Ocean,  the 


multiplicity  of  Heavens,  the 
and  the  ministry  of  angels 
sky,  the  monk  of  Alexandria 

1 Cf.  Augustine,  De  Civ.  Dei,  xvi. 
9 ; “ Confessions,”  xi.  23 ; Chrysostom, 
Horn,  xiv.,  on  Hebrews;  Diodore  of 
Tarsus,  Fragment  in  Photius,  Biblio- 
theca, cod.  223,  and  “ On  Genesis,”  in 
Migne,  Pat.  Grsec.  xxxiii.  cc.  1562- 
1580 ; Severian  of  Gabala,  “ Orations 
on  Creation,”  esp.  no.  iii. ; in  Pho- 
tius, Bibliotheca,  references  in  cods. 
59,  96,  231,  232 ; Procopius  of  Gaza, 
“ On  Genesis ; ” Athanasius  (Contra 
Gentes)  ; Csesarius,  Dial,  i.,  respons. 
ad  interrog. ; Theodore  of  Mopsuestia 
in  John  Philoponus,  “ On  Creation,” 
iii.  9,  etc. ; cf.  in  the  fourth  century, 
St.  Basil  (Hexsem.  Horn.  iii.  3,  9); 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem  (Hieros.  Catech. 
ix.  76),  who  seems  to  think  that  rain 
is  derived  from  the  reservoir  of 
waters  above  the  firmament,  and 
hence,  like  Cosmas,  disbelieves  in 
clouds  sucking  up  moisture  from  the 
earth ; and  Eusebius  of  Caesarea 
(c.  310),  who  likewise  conceives  the 
universe  as  a two-  or  three-storied 
house ; see  also  Avitus  (c.  523), 
who,  almost  in  the  very  language  of 
Cosmas,  places  Paradise  in  the  far 
East,  beyond  India,  for  ever  shut  off 
from  man  among  inaccessible  moun- 


Waters  above  the  Firmament, 
as  the  Lamp-bearers  of  the 
was  not  without  forerunners.1 

tains,  close  to  the  rim  where  the 
confines  of  heaven  and  earth  unite. 
Similar  passages  are  to  be  found  in 
St.  Ambrose,  Justin  Martyr,  and 
others  as  cited  by  Letronne,  “Des 
Opinions  Cosmographiquesdes  Peres.” 
Most  of  these  (except  to  a certain 
extent  St.  Augustine,  who  is  willing 
to  concede,  for  argument’s  sake, 
figura  conglobata  et  rotunda  mundus 
esse ) are  distinctly  anti-spherical,  as 
well  as  opposed  to  antipodean 
peoples,  etc.  The  more  cautious 
method  of  Augustine  is  imitated  by 
Isidore  of  Seville  (“  Origins,”  iii.,  xi., 
xiv.,  1,  2,  5,  etc.).  See  Letronne’s 
“ Opinions  . . . des  Peres,”  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes,  Mar.  15,  1834  (p.  601, 
etc.);  Marinelli(tr.  Neumann,  “Erd- 
kunde  bei  den  Kirchen-Vatern,”) 
especially  part  ii. ; Santarem,  “ Essai 
sur  Cosmographie,”  etc.,  vol.  i.,  espe- 
cially pp.  314,  315;  Peschel,  “Ges- 
chichte  der  Erdkunde  ” (pp.  85-90) ; 
Charton,  “ Voyageurs  Anciens  et 
Mod.”  ii.  1,  3,  7,  etc. ; Ferd.  Denis, 
“ Le  Monde  Enchante ; 55  and,  for  a 
fuller  treatment  of  the  same,  part  v. 
of  this  chapter,  “The  Minor  Geo- 
graphers.” 


276 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


Even  in  pre-Christian  thought,  from  Herodotus  to  Cicero, 
there  was  plenty  of  doubt  and  hesitation  in  accepting  the 
word  of  astronomers  about  the  roundness  of  the  earth ; the 
vulgar  belief  in  a flat  plain,  which  even  Plutarch  to  some 
extent  supported,1  was  still  the  vulgar  or  common  belief 
when  Christianity  was  rising  to  power.  Some  who  were 
ready  enough  to  grant  that  the  world  was  spherically  shaped 
in  the  parts  known  to  man,  imagined  that  it  might  be  cut 
off  flat  in  the  middle,  resembling  the  upper  half  only  of  a 
ball.  Others,  again,  thought  at  any  rate  no  life  could  exist 
in  an  Antipodes  beyond  the  regions  of  intolerable  heat  in 
the  middle  of  that  “globe,”  which  otherwise  they  were 
ready  to  accept. 

But  the  really  scientific  geographers  of  the  old  world — 
men  like  Eratosthenes  and  Ptolemy — left  no  possible  doubt 
on  the  truth  of  the  spherical  doctrine  to  any  one  who  could 
understand  their  arguments  and  appreciate  their  facts;2 
and  the  mind  of  educated  pagan  society  was  too  plainly 
declared,  for  all  the  theologians  to  remain  quite  happy  in 
denying  what  was  said  by  the  infidels.  In  a misty  sort  of 
way,  men  like  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  or  St.  Basil 
the  Great  felt  there  was  some  reason  on  the  other  side; 
and  so  the  last-named  avoided  the  difficulty  by  declaring 
that  religion  was  not  concerned  with  the  shape  of  the  earth, 


1 In  bis  tract  On  the  Face  in  the 
Moon  (De  Facie  in  Orbe  Lunae), 
formally  written  against  the  spherical 
doctrine. 

2 The  case  was  different  with  the 
Heliocentric  or  Copernican  School  of 
Antiquity,  which  received  much 
greater  support  than  is  often  supposed 
( e.g . Seneca  will  not  pronounce 
against  it,  Nat.  Quaest.  vii.  2),  and 
was  at  least  known  to  Aristotle  and 
Ptolemy;  but,  on  the  whole,  was 


regarded  as  impossible  even  by 
educated  opinion.  See  Schiaparelli, 
“Precursors  of  Copernicus  in  An- 
tiquity.” The  chief  Sphericists  of 
the  old  world  were  Aristotle  (“De 
Caelo,”  ii.  14);  Strabo  (bk.  ii.); 
Thales  and  Pythagoras  (in  Diogenes 
Laertius’  “Lives”  of  Thales,  i.  1, 
of  Pythagoras,  viii.  2G) ; Cicero  (De 
Nat.  Deor.  ii.  18,  19);  Pliny  (Hist. 
Nat.  ii.  65) ; Seneca  (Nat.  Quaest.). 


VI.] 


THE  WORLD-SYSTEM  OF  COSMAS. 


277 


and  that  it  did  not  matter  to  faith  whether  it  were  formed 
like  a sphere,  a cylinder,  or  a disc.  This  careless  attitude 
was  hateful  to  Cosmas,  who  not  only  carried  the  popular 
tradition  to  the  furthest  extreme,  but  elaborated  a counter 
theory.  He  professed  to  find  the  truth  in  St.  Paul’s  utter- 
ance, that  the  tabernacle  of  Moses  was  a figure  of  this 
world.  With  astonishing  courage  he  attempted  to  follow 
the  comparison  into  every  detail.  In  the  proportions  and 
furniture,  in  the  four  walls,  the  roof,  the  floor,  of  the  tent 
of  the  wilderness ; in  the  candlestick,  the  ark  of  the  covenant, 
and  the  table  of  shewTbread,  he  found  in  small  compass  the 
whole  of  nature ; except  for  that  upper  vault  representing 
the  world  to  come,  which  lay  above  the  firmament  or  flat 
roof  of  the  present  earth.  The  best  comparison  of  this 
scheme  is  no  doubt  to  be  found  in  the  time-honoured  parallel 
of  a modern  travelling-trunk,  where,  of  course,  the  false  roof 
within  answers  to  Cosmas’  firmament,  and  the  curved  and 
fixed  lid  to  the  arch  of  the  upper  heaven,  while  the  oblong 
form  of  the  whole  trunk  is  exactly  the  tabernacle-shape 
assigned  to  the  world.  In  all  this  Cosmas  passed  beyond 
the  position  of  most  of  the  theologians  who  preceded  him. 
Where  they  had  only  denied,  he  affirmed  ; and  affirmed  with 
definiteness  and  decision.  F or  his  system  was  demonstrated 
from  Scripture,  and  no  Christian  could  doubt  it.  The  faith- 
ful in  earlier  times  had  been  content  to  doubt  or  dispute  the 
theory  of  a round  world,  and  the  monstrous  fallacies  con- 
nected with  this  error,  but  they  had  hardly  ever  been 
offered  the  clear  alternative — God’s  word  for  man’s. 

Similarly,  in  his  doctrines  of  the  land  beyond  the  ocean, 
containing  Paradise,  the  world  of  the  patriarchs,  and  the 
sources  of  the  four  great  rivers ; — of  the  courses  of  these 
rivers  by  underground  passages,  from  the  outer  to  the  inner 
earth ; — and  of  the  barrenness  of  that  older  home  of  man. 


278 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


the  new  Christian  topographer  had  an  advantage  over 
nearly  all  his  forerunners. 

Once  more,  in  his  explanation  of  the  Deluge,  which  was 
sent,  not  so  much  to  destroy  man,  as  to  bring  those  of  the 
fittest  who  survived,  over  sea  from  the  desert  of  the  ante- 
diluvian lands  to  the  garden  of  the  present  earth;  in  his 
assumption  of  gigantic  mountains  to  the  north  of  the  world, 
on  which  day  and  night  depended;  and  in  his  resolute 
attempt  to  find  a place  for  the  angels  (in  controlling  all 
natural  phenomena),  the  monk  of  Alexandria,  though  using 
fragments  of  Patristic  and  Eabbinical  tradition,  showed  a 
well-nigh  unrivalled  ingenuity  in  subjecting  the  fancies  of 
profane  science  to  the  sure  word  of  sacred  authority.1 

Cosmas,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a merchant  in  earlier  life, 
when  he  traded  to  India  and  Abyssinia ; learnt  of,  and  per- 
haps visited,  the  sources  of  the  Blue  Nile ; and  found  out  for 
himself  into  how  many  lands  both  the  faith  and  money  of 
Rome  had  spread.2 

But  it  was  only  after  he  became  a monk  that  he  entered 
the  noble  army  of  writers.  Naturally  enough,  he  first  put 
down  what  we  may  call  his  “Memories  of  Travel,”  and 
“ treated  of  all  the  regions  of  the  world,  of  coast-lands  and 
islands  and  others ; of  the  countries  of  the  South,  from  Alex- 
andria to  the  ocean ; of  the  Nile  and  its  tributaries ; of  the 
Arabian  Gulf ; and  of  the  peoples  of  Ethiopia  and  Egypt.” 
Controversies  about  this  earlier  work,  and  especially  about 
his  account  of  the  burning  desert  of  central  Africa,  led  to 
the  “ Christian  Topography.”  The  derivative  has  survived 


1 Exactly  the  same  spirit  is  shown 
in  his  account  of  the  invention  of 
writing,  which  was  discovered  at 

Sinai  when  the  Law  was  revealed. 
The  forty  years’  wandering  was  to 
allow  the  Hebrews  a sufficient  amount 


of  learned  leisure  to  profit  by  the 
new  gift. 

2 Every  country  in  the  world,  he 
says,  trades  in  Roman  money,  p.  148 
(Montf.). 


VI.] 


DATE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  TOPOGRAPHY. 


279 


where  the  original  has  perished ; and,  as  it  proceeded,  this 
apologetic  treatise  lost  all  connection  with  the  geography 
of  observation.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  its  descriptive 
portions,  dealing  with  Ceylon,  the  Nile,  the  negro  gold- 
trade,  the  Malabar  coast,  and  other  matters,  are  really  ex- 
tracted from  the  older  “Description.”  They  are  almost 
always  introduced  to  illustrate  some  point  in  the  argument, 
but  their  character  is  essentially  independent.  They  are  far 
too  long  merely  to  support  general  views ; they  are  in  their 
nature  extracts  from  a different  kind  of  work;  they  are 
Strabonian  and  not  Ptolemaic. 

The  “ Christian  Topography  ” seems  to  have  been  written 
between  535  andjJATJ:  It  is  dedicated,  in  its  original 

form,  to  one  Pamphilus  a monk;  in  parts  subsequently 
added,  to  a friend  named  Peter  and  a certain  Anastasius, 
who  had  reported  to  Cosmas  the  compromises  of  some 
Christian  geographers.  Nearly  seventy  authorities  are 
quoted  in  all,  among  philosophers,  historians,  travellers, 
doctors  of  the  Church,  soldiers,  and  statesmen.  Aristotle 
is  three  times  refuted ; Berosus,  Ephorus,  Eudoxus,  Manetho, 
Plato,  Claudius  Ptolemy,  and  Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  with 
many  other  well-known  names,  find  a place  in  the  pages, 
and  usually  in  the  pillory,  of  Cosmas,  whose  reading  was  as 


1 The  eleventh  book,  and  some 
other  parts,  were  apparently  com- 
posed during  the  exile  of  Theodosius, 
ex-patriarch  of  Alexandria,  which 
began  in  536  a.d.  Again,  Timothy 
the  Cat  is  mentioned  elsewhere  (at 
end  of  bk.  x.)  as  if  till  very  lately 
patriarch  of  Alexandria ; and  he  died 
535.  Once  more,  other  parts,  e.g. 
bk.  ii.,  of  the  Top.  Christ,  are 
dated  twenty-five  years  after  the  war 
of  Elesbaan  against  the  Homerites, 
which  was  in  522.  Cf.  Pagi  ad  ann. 
522.  Bks.  i.-vi.  are  addressed  to 


Pamphilus,  the  seventh  to  Anastasius, 
the  eighth  to  Peter ; the  remaining 
four  are  without  dedication.  Cf. 
Photius  (“  Bibliotheca,”  Cod.  36), 
who  knew  of  no  author  for  the  Top. 
Christ.,  but  remarks  on  its  love  of 
the  marvellous  (“as  if  man  were 
fonder  of  myth  than  of  truth  ”),  and 
describes  its  diction  as  humble  and 
its  style  of  composition  as  beneath 
the  common  level.  See  also  the  § 
“Cosmas”  in  Charton’s  Yoyageurs 
Anciens  et  Mod.  vol.  ii.  [esp.  for  its 
bibliography]. 


280 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[OH. 


wide  as  his  reflection  was  infantile.1  In  the  first  book  he 
demolishes  the  heresy  of  the  roundness  of  the  world.  In 


1 It  may  be  useful  to  add  a list  of 
the  chief  names,  especially  of  authors, 
mentioned  by  Cosmas,  with  the 
references  to  Montfaucon’s  edition. 
(1)  Amphilochius,  a friend  of  St. 
Basil,  bk.vii.  p.292;  (2)  Anastasius,  a 
lover  of  Christ  and  of  toil,  vi.  264, 
vii.  274,  275;  (3)  Apion,  grammarian 
and  writer  on  matters  Egyptian,  xii. 
p.  341.  He  was  nicknamed  by  the 
Emperor  Tiberius,  “ Cymbalum 
Mundi,”  for  his  boasting.  He  wrote 
against  the  Jews,  and  was  replied  to 
by  Josephus;  (4)  Apollinaris,  heretic, 
v.  242  ; (5)  Apollonius,  (Molo)  Egyp- 
tologist, xii.  341  ; (6)  Archimedes,  iii. 
182 — an  incomparable  geometer  and 
arithmetician,  “squarer  of  the  circle ; ” 
(7)  Aristotle,  i.  121,  iii.  177,  9 ; i.  117, 
123 ; (8)  Arius  the  heretic,  v.  242 ; 
(9)  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 

vii.  292,  x.  316-319.  His  “ Festal 
Epistles,”  Nos.  2,  5,  6,  22,  24,  28,  29, 
40,  42,  43,  45  are  quoted;  (10) 
Athenians,  not  belonging  to  the 
Faith  (oi'  e£<i)9ev  ’A ttikoi\  v.  197  ; (11) 
Babylonians,  on  the  Spherical  heaven, 

viii.  305 ; (12)  Basil,  friend  of  Amphi- 
lochius, vii.  292;  (13)  Berosus,  xii. 
340;  (14)  Brahmins,  ii.  137;  (15) 
Cadmus,  v.  206,  xii.  343 ; (16)  Chsere- 
mon,  writer  on  matters  Egyptian, 
xii.  341;  (17)  Chaldaeans,  teachers 
of  Spherical  heresy  to  Egyptians,  iii. 
159;  (18)  Christian  Sphericist,  vii. 
274,  299 ; (19)  Dius  and  Menander, 
translation  of  Tyrian  Antiquities 
into  Greek,  xii.  342 ; (20)  Ephorus, 
fragment  quoted  from  bk.  iv.  of  his 
history,  ii.  148 ; (21)  Epiphanius,  x. 
326 ; (22)  Epistles,  Catholic,  vii.  292, 
disputed  by  some  Churches;  (23) 
“ External,”  i.e.  adverse,  writers 
oL  etc.,  iii.  175,  iv.  190,  ix.  310 ; 


(24)  Euclid,  geometer,  iii.  182 ; 

(25)  Eudoxus  of  Cnidus , iii.  159; 

(26)  Eusebius,  iii.  174,  vii.  292 ; (27) 

Eutyches,  heretic,  v.  242 ; (28)  Greeks, 
vi.  260,  272 ; (29)  Gregory  of  Nazi- 
anzen,  x.  319 ; (30)  Epistle  to 

Hebrews,  St.  Paul  its  author,  v.  254, 
255  ; (31)  Hebrews  taught  writing  at 
Sinai  by  God,  v.  205.  Here  Cosmas 
refers  to  the  Nabathaean  and  old 
Egyptian  inscriptions  near  Mount 
Sinai ; of  which  most  belong  to  the 
early  centuries  a.d.,  though  a few 
date  back  to  Rameses  the  Great. 
We  may  notice  that  Cosmas  always 
makes  his  Old  Testament  quotations 
from  the  Septuagint;  (32)  Homer, 
xii.  343 ; (33)  Hyperides,  v.  197 ; 

(34)  John  the  Evangelist,  v.  248; 

(35)  St.  John  Chrysostom,  x.  327, 

328 ; (36)  Josephus,  perhaps  his 
chief  authority  in  matters  secular, 
iii.  174 ; (37)  Irenaeus,  vii.  292  ; (38) 
Jews  and  Messiah,,  vi.  271 ; (39) 
Lycurgus,  legislator,  xii.  342 ; (40) 
Lysimachus,  writer  on  matters  Egyp- 
tian, xii.  341 ; (41)  Manetho,  xii. 
341 ; (42)  Manich  seans,  v.  242,  262, 
xii.  271,  272,  273;  (43)  Marcion- 
ists,  v.  242;  (44)  Menander  (and 
Dius),  xii.  342;  (45)  Menander, 

comedian,  v.  198;  (46)  Montanists, 
v.  262;  (47)  Moses,  iii.  174;  (48) 
Origen,  vii.  298,  299 ; (49)  Pamphilus 
of  Jerusalem,  to  whom  Cosmas  in- 
scribes his  first  six  books,  i.  114, 

ii.  124,  viii.  305,  vi.  260,  266;  (50) 
Patricius,  mathematician  and  bishop, 
viii.  306,  cf.  ii.  132  (perhaps  same  ? ), 
v.  192,  ii.  125 ; (51)  Peter,  to  whom  bk. 
viii.  is  inscribed,  viii.  300,  307,  308 ; 
(52)  Philo,  x.  329,  330 ; (53)  Plato, 

iii.  177,  179,  xii.  341 ; (54)  Proclus 
(cf.  Timseus),  xii.  341 ; (55)  Ptolemy 


VI.] 


MAPS  IN  THE  CHRISTIAN  TOPOGRAPHY. 


281 


the  subsequent  books  (ii.-xii.)  he  explains  his  own  system, 
which,  in  the  second,  third,  and  following  sections,  he  con- 
firms from  Scripture,  in  book  x.  from  the  Fathers,  in 
book  xii.  from  non-Christian  sources.  The  eleventh  book, 
as  we  have  seen  before,  is  entirely  practical,  and  belongs, 
like  parts  of  books  i.,  ii.,  and  iii.,  to  the  commercial 
geography  of  the  time. 

There  is,  as  we  have  said  before,1  another  interest  about 
the  “ Topography.”  It  contains,  in  all  probability,  the 
oldest  Christian  maps  that  have  survived.  There  is  little 
reason  to  doubt  that  the  numerous  sketches — of  the  world, 
of  the  northern  mountains,  of  the  antipodes  in  derision, 
and  the  rest — which  are  to  be  found  in  the  Florentine 
manuscript  of  the  tenth  century  were  really  drawn  by 
Cosmas  himself  (or  under  his  direction)  in  the  sixth ; and 
are  thus  at  least  two  centuries  earlier  than  the  map  of  Albi, 
or  the  original  sketch  of  the  Spanish  monk  Beatus. 

From  his  apparent  wealth  of  information  about  the 
Hestorian  Church  and  its  missions,  it  was  long  ago  2 con- 
jectured that  Cosmas  was  himself  a hTestorian.  It  wras 


(king  or  kings),  vi.  267,  ii.  141,  etc. 
(Adule  monument);  (56)  Ptolemy, 
Claudius,  iii.  177, 182  ; (57)  Py  tha- 
goras, iii.  179;  (58)  Pytkeas  of 

Marseilles,  ii.  149  ; (59)  Salamon  or 
Solon,  xii.  342  ; (60)  Samaritans,  v. 
262,  vi.  271,  272  ; (61)  Severian  of 
Gabala,  hisHexsemeron,bks.  i.  ii.  iii. 
iv.  vi.  in  x.  320,  also  cf.  vii.  292  ; (62) 
Socrates,  iii.  179 ; (63)  Sopater,  mer- 
chant, xi.  338 ; (64)  Stephen  of 

Antioch,  priest  and  mathematician, 
vi.  264  ; (65)  Syrians,  vii.  292 ; (66) 
Story-tellers  ( TeparoAoyol ),  v.  205, 
213 ; (67)  Teucer,  lawgiver  of  Locri, 
xii.  342  ; (68)  Theodosius  of  Alex- 
andria, schismatic,  x.  331  ; (69) 


Theophilus  of  Alexandria,  x.  320 ; 

(70)  Thomas  of  Edessa,  Catholic  of 
Persia,  disciple  of  Patricius,  ii.  125  ; 

(71)  Timseus  the  philosopher,  xii. 
340  (cf.  Plato) ; (72)  Timothy  the 
younger  of  Alexandria,  x.  332 ; (73) 
Tryphon,  xii.  344  [adviser  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  in  translation  of  Sep- 
tuagint]  ; (74)  Xenophanes,  ii.  149. 

1 Cf.  the  introductory  chapter. 

2 By  La  Croze,  “ Christianisme 
des  Indes,”  cf.  pp.  27-37  of  that 
work.  The  strongest  evidence  is  his 
professed  friendship  with  Thomas  of 
Edessa,  which  would  have  been  im- 
possible, one  would  think,  for  an 
orthodox  monk  at  that  time. 


282 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


pointed  out  how  he  praised  the  semi-Nestorian  bishops 
Patricius  of  Persia  and  Thomas  of  Edessa ; how  in  his  lists 
of  heretics  he  never  included  Nestorians  ; how  he  referred  to 
the  authority  of  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  and  Diodorus  of 
Tarsus,  the  lights  of  Nestorian  theology ; and  how  his 
expressions  upon  the  Incarnation  were  never  inconsistent 
with  Nestorian  views.1  We  may  add  to  this,  that  the 
knowledge  he  shows  of  the  Nestorian  discipline  and  of 
its  successes  in  far  distant  parts,  from  India  to  Socotra, 
was  quite  out  of  the  range  of  the  orthodox  monk;  but 
this,  like  all  the  other  indications  of  partiality  for  the 
“Protestantism  of  the  East,”  may  be  a survival  from 
an  earlier  time.  The  Nestorian  merchant  may  have  become 
an  orthodox  ascetic.  The  famous  passage  where  he  runs 
over  all  the  Christian  Churches  of  the  world,  without  a 
word  of  condemnation  for  the  Catholics  of  the  West  and 
North;  his  quotation,  in  one  place,  of  the  very  phrase, 
“ Mother  of  God,”  on  which  the  whole  Nestorian  controversy 
first  arose  ; and  his  constant  use  of  Catholic  divines,  point 
perhaps  to  this  conclusion.  Whether  schismatic  or  no, 
Cosmas  made  little  of  the  divisions  among  Christians  com- 
pared to  the  gulf  which  separated  them  all  from  the  atheists 
of  pagan  science. 

Lastly,  just  as  the  nickname  of  “ Indian  Traveller  ” was 
gained  by  his  commercial  journeys  of  the  earlier  time,  so  it 
is  probable  that  his  writings  on  cosmography  in  the  later 
years  of  his  life  have  changed  his  own  proper  name  into 
a title.  “ Cosmas.”  is  hardly  likely  to  have  been  his  Christian 
or  family  name ; like  “ Polyhistor,”  it  has  been  added  as 
a description ; but  whereas  the  full  name  of  Solinus  has 


1 Cf.  on  these  points,  pp.  124, 125, 
146,  151,  175,  209,  217,  223,  242,  262, 
269,  283,  286,  etc.  of  Cosmas  (Mont- 


faucon’s  edit.).  But  note  his  use  of 
0eoTo/c<$s  in  bk.  v. 


THE  PLANS  OP  COSMAS. 

i.  The  World  and  the  Firmament. 


[To  face  p.  282; 


VI.]  PLACE  OF  COSMAS  IN  HISTORY.  283 

survived,  all  of  Cosmas’  has  perished,  except  his  designa- 
tions. 

The  place  of  Cosmas  in  history  has  been  sometimes  mis- 
conceived. His  work  is  not,  as  it  has  been  called  (in  the 
earlier  years  of  this  century),  the  “ chief  authority  ” of  the 
Middle  Ages  in  geography.  For,  on  the  whole,  its  influence 
is  only  slightly,  and  occasionally,  traceable.  Its  author 
stated  his  position  as  an  article  of  Christian  faith ; but  even 
in  those  times  there  was  anything  but  a general  agreement 
with  his  positive  conclusions.  St.  Isidore  of  Seville  at  the 
end  of  the  sixth  century,  and  Virgil  of  Salzburg,  the  Irish 
missionary  of  the  eighth,  both  maintained  the  belief  of 
Basil  and  Ambrose,  that  the  question  of  the  Antipodes 
was  not  closed  by  the  Church.  The  subtleties  of  Cosmas 
were  left  to  the  Greeks,  for  the  most  part;  the  Western 
geographers  who  pursued  his  line  of  thought  were  usually 
content  to  stop  short  at  the  merely  negative  dogmas 
of  the  Latin  fathers ; and  no  great  support  was  given 
to  the  constructive  tabernacle-system  of  the  Indian 
merchant. 

Yet,  after  all,  the  “ Christian  Topography”  must  always 
be  remarkable.  It  is  perhaps  the  final  warning  of  a certain 
habit  of  mind — of  that  religious  dogmatizing  which  fears 
nothing  but  want  of  faith.  Quite  apart  from  the  useful  notes 
it  contains  of  commercial  and  missionary  travel,  it  is  also 
one  of  the  earliest  important  essays  in  scientific  or  strictly 
theoretic  geography,  within  the  Christian  era,  written  by 
a Christian  thinker.  It  is  extraordinary  that  Cosmas  should 
have  really  done  some  work  in  astronomy,  and  yet  should 
have  denied  every  lesson  that  astronomy  teaches  and  nearly 
every  assumption  on  which  its  progress  has  been  based — yet 
so  stand  the  facts ; and  in  the  Topography  we  have  to  deal, 
not  with  a mere  fabulist  like  Solinus,  still  less  with  a servile 


284  GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY.  [Ch. 

statistician  or  tabulator,  but  with  a bold  and  independent 
cosmographer.  Had  he  not  set  out  with  the  purpose  of 
making  facts  bend  to  pre-judgments  and  forcing  the  heavens 
to  tell  the  glory  of  God,  Cosmas  might  have  advanced 
the  science  he  set  himself  to  overthrow : but  it  was  this 
very  destructive  purpose  that  led  him  to  write ; he  recog- 
nised no  good  in  knowledge  apart  from  the  word  of  the 
Scriptures ; and  the  observations  which  are  to  be  found 
like  fossils  scattered  among  the  layers  of  his  arguments 
are  in  part  merely  to  illustrate  the  latter — in  part,  as  we 
have  said,  are  probably  taken  over  from  a treatise  with  a 
largely  different  object.  In  the  “Topography”  his  interest 
was  mainly  in  constructing  a theological  system  of  the 
universe : never  before  or  since  was  so  complete  and  so  am- 
bitious an  attempt  made  in  this  direction ; but  considerable 
knowledge,  many  opportunities,  and  some  education  were 
here  allied  to  fervent  piety.  It  was  not  because  of  ignor- 
ance or  through  living  in  Dark  Ages  that  Cosmas  wrote  as 
he  did : he  flourished  at  the  time  when  Christianity  perhaps 
most  entirely  and  exclusively  controlled  civilisation  and  the 
whole  area  of  the  civilised  world ; and  he  seems  conscious, 
not  of  a feeble  and  barbarised  mind,  but  rather  of  having  all 
knowledge  for  his  province.  He  was  not  without  profane 
science,  but  he  now  saw  it  (and  saw  through  it)  in  the  light 
of  theology,  the  crown  of  sciences. 

Was  not  the  arrogance,  as  well  as  the  intricacy  and  the 
pettiness,  of  the  Egyptian  monk  and  his  doctrines  significant 
of  the  coming  overthrow  of  his  religion  and  his  race  in  its  own 
homelands,  where  it  had  turned  the  search  after  the  truth  of 
nature  into  a chase  after  fantastic  and  delusive  mysteries  ? 
Islam  at  least  brought  back  more  of  the  sense  of  respect  for 
things  as  they  are,  a revived  interest  in  the  physical  world, 
a more  balanced  use  of  tradition,  and  a greater  restraint  of 


THE  PLANS  OP  COSMAS. 

ii.  The  waters  above  and  below  the  Firmament. 


[To  face  p.  284.. 


VI.]  COSMAS’  FIRST  BOOK  AGAINST  SPHERICISM.  285 

fancy  to  its  own  proper  sphere — to  the  task  of  amnsing, 
without  compelling,  belief. 

Cosmas  starts  with  an  attack  upon  the  Spherical  theory 
of  heaven  and  earth  from  an  astronomical  standpoint.  He 
then  proceeds,  after  demolishing  the  false,  to  give  the  true, 

I the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  shape  of  the  universe,  as 
evidenced  by  Holy  Scripture.  “ In  the  Name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  One  consubstantial 
and  life-controlling  God,  from  Whom  cometh  down  every 
good  and  perfect  gift,” — so  runs  the  author’s  invocation, — 

4t  I open  my  stammering  and  unready  lips,  trusting  in  my 
Lord  that  He  would  vouchsafe  me  of  His  spirit  of  wisdom.” 

In  the  two  prologues  which  are  prefixed  to  the  Topo- 
graphy, we  are  recommended  to  study  its  arguments  very 
carefully  as  a preparation  for  the  “ Descriptive  Geography,” 
which,  as  we  have  seen,(  is  probably  incorporated  to  some 
extent  in  the  present  work,  as  it  was  finally  expanded  and 
arranged.  The  kind  offices  of  Pamphilus  and  of  the  “ very 
religious  man  ” Homologus  the  Deacon  are  commemorated ; 
the  humble  and  unequal  style  of  the  treatise  before  us  is 
vindicated — “for  a Christian  wants  right  thoughts  rather 
than  neat  phrases ; ” — and  an  outline  of  the  argument,  divided 
under  five  books,  is  added  for  the  information  of  the  reader. 

v 

The  first  of  these  deals  especially  with  the  inconsistencies  of 
those  Christians  who  have  discarded  the  Biblical  truth  of  a 
flat  and  immovable  world.  It  is  only  those  who  deride  with 
superabundant  scorn  all  the  holy  men  of  old  as  mere  scat- 
tered of  empty  phrases ; it  is  only  they  who  can  afford  to 
believe  in  the  spherical  shape  and  circular  motion  of  the 
universe.1  j But  who  can  say  that  he  ever  saw  the  sky  moved 
up  or  down 2 at  any  time  ? And  as  we  know  that  it  must 

1 Cosmas,  pp.  116-117  (Montf.).  I that  the  Pagan  heaven,  i.e.  “ the  so- 

2 Cosmas  insists  (p.  118,  Montf.)  | called  spheres,”  must  be  either  moved 


286 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


either  be  attracted  downwards,  forced  upwards,  or  stationary, 
the  disproof  of  the  first  two  involves  the  acceptance  of 
the  last.  But,  oh  ! the  darkness  of  those  who  prate  about 
the  courses  and  retrogressions  of  the  stars ; 1 who  dream  of  the 
planets’  motion  as  contrary  to  that  of  the  universe.  If  the 
heavenly  bodies  have  their  motion  from  their  own  nature, 
whence  these  vagaries  ? What  force  compels  them  to  a 
motion  contrary  to  themselves  ? The  blasphemy  of  these 
triflers  recoils  upon  their  own  head.  In  their  struggles  to 
get  rid  of  the  direct  action  of  the  Creator,  they  are  given 
over  to  every  kind  of  contradiction  and  absurdity.  Would 
it  not  be  well,  ye  wisest  of  men,  exclaims  Cosmas  with  an 
attempt  at  Socratic  irony,  to  make  an  end  of  this  folly ; and, 
though  late  in  the  day,  to  learn  of  the  Divine  Word,  and 
distrust  the  guidance  of  your  own  futile  judgment  ? 

Let  us  Christians  ask  these  wiseacres,  who  babble  about 
the  world  revolving  on  its  own  axis,  one  or  two  simple  but 
searching  questions.  Who  is  it  that  sustains  this  infallible 
axis  of  theirs  ? How  has  it  been  driven  through  the  earth 
for  us  to  revolve  upon,  and  what  is  it  made  of  ? 2 And  do^ 
not  let  us  be  drawn  aside  by  the  dishonest  conceit  of  some 
of  these  Sphericists,  that  our  world  may  be  moved  by  tho 
volume  of  air  pent  up  within  it.  Let  us  for  one  moment 
consult  fact  and  common  sense.  If  a man  were  filled  with 
air,  would  he  be  kept  moving?  We  know  what  would 
really  happen.  He  would  burst,  before  he  got  very  far  in 
his  movement.  How  much  more,  then,  would  the  earth 
perish,  if  it  had  ever  been  turned  into  this  kind  of  wind- 
bag ? 3 Can  there  be  any  question,  concludes  this  first  part 
of  our  refutation,  about  the  central  truths  of  nature ; that 


down  “ by  a prevailing  gravity,”  or 
borne  up  by  the  action  of  the  con- 
trary. 


1 Pages  118, 119  (Montf.). 

2 Pages  119,  120  (Montf.). 

3 Page  121  (Montf.). 


THE  PLANS  OF  COSMAS. 

iii.  The  World  and  the  Pillars  of  Heaven. 


I 


[ To  face  p.  286. 


VI.] 


COSMAS’  DEBT  TO  HIS  FKIENDS. 


287 


the  sky  is  fixed,  that  the  earth  is  the  centre  of  the  universe,, 
and  that  snn,  moon,  stars  and  this  same  earth  of  ours  are  all 
sustained  by  God  alone  ? s 

A popular  error  is  next  disproved  about  the  source  of 
rain.1  It  does  not  come  from  heat  drawing  up  moisture 
into  clouds ; for  the  effect  of  heat  is  not  to  attract  upwards, 
but  the  reverse,  as  Cosmas  proves  triumphantly  from  several 
instances — a bath,  a wet  log  on  the  fire,  a garment  newly 
washed  and  drying  in  the  sun.  Does  not  the  moisture  of 
damp  wood  run  down  into  the  flame  ? Does  not  the  per- 
spiration of  the  body  trickle  downwards  ? 2 

So  much  for  a first  essay  in  scattering  the  clouds  of  error. 
Cosmas  now  turns 3 with  some  expressions  of  relief  to  the 
pleasanter  part  of  his  work,  that  of  directing  his  readers 
towards  the  light  of  truth.  He  reminds  his  friend  Pam- 
philus  how  the  whole  of  the  “ Christian  Topography  ” is  due 
to  his  advice  and  his  encouragement ; how  the  distinguished 
author,  when  “ sick  in  body,  weak  in  eyesight,  unversed  in 
rhetoric,  involved  in  business,”  was  roused  to  undertake  this 
stupendous  task.  It  was  Pamphilus  who  first  appreciated 
the  importance  of  the  analogy  between  the  Tabernacle  of 
Moses  and  the  material  universe.4  It  was  Pamphilus  who 
first  insisted  how  useful  such  a work  must  be  for  the  training 


1 Page  122  (Montf.). 

2 Cf.  pp.  122,  123  (Montf.),  which 

is  followed  at  once  by  the  first  state- 
ment of  an  often-recurring  crux  for 
the  Sphericists  who  try  to  keep  in 

touch  with  religion  to  some  extent 
by  leaving  angels,  demons,  and  the 
souls  of  men  un-included  in  their 
spheres.  These  wicked  men,  as  St. 
Paul  says  of  the  pagans,  are  really 
transferring  the  “ glory  of  the  im- 
measurable God  ” to  His  creatures,  in 
placing  their  souls  outside  the  spheres 


of  being;  and  from  such  who  have 
the  form  of  godliness  and  deny  the 
power  thereof,  we  must  strictly  turn 
away. 

3 Bk.  ii.  pp.  124,  etc.  (Montf.). 

4 As  we  have  already  suggested, 
this  achievement  belongs  in  all  pro- 
bability to  the  great  Nestorian  doctor 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  c.  a.d. 
330-429.  See  John  Philoponus’  at- 
tack on  his  Cosmical  Theories  in 
the  seventh  century  (“  De  Creatione 
Mundi”). 


288 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[On. 


of  young  Christians ; for  the  breaking  off  of  that  unhallowed 
alliance  of  the  self-opinionated  orthodox  with  atheist  de- 
ceivers, Sphericists,  and  asserters  of  antipodes.  It  was 
Pamphilus  who  showed  how  much  more  important  it  would 
be  to  set  forth  the  true  basis  of  Christian  science  than  to 
please  the  world  by  remaining  silent  for  fear  of  calumny. 

But  besides  Pamphilus,  Cosmas  had  also  a debt  of  grati- 
tude to  the  great  masters  Patricius  of  Chaldaea  and  Thomas 
of  Edessa  ; for  all  the  insight  he  had  gained  into  the  hidden 
meaning  of  the  Scriptures — an  insight  beyond  the  common, 
as  men  must  grant — he  owed  to  their  instruction.1  He 
follows  this  interesting  personal  reference  by  drawing  out 
his  texts  in  serried  lines,  on  behalf  of  the  true  relation 
and  distinction  of  heaven  and  earth  which  the  legend  of 
the  Antipodes  would  confuse  in  one;2  and  of  the  foun- 
dation of  our  world  upon  the  immovability  of  God.  To 
these  favourite  points,  as  we  shall  see,  he  again  and  again 
returns,  as  he  does  to  other  matters  now  first  discussed, — the 
Tabernacle  pattern  and  the  heavens  on  both  sides  of  the 
firmament ; 3— but  here  we  will  not  stop  to  notice  what  is 
more  fully  thrashed  out  in  later  books.  In  the  same  way 
as  to  the  description  of  the  world  that  follows ; its  division 
into  two  parts,  present  and  antediluvian;  its  four  seas  or 
gulfs,  Mediterranean,  Persian,  Arabian,  and  Caspian ; and  its 
continents  or  conventional  distinctions  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
Africa,  it  is  not  necessary  to  make  a long  story  in  this,  place. 


1 Patricius,  says  Cosmas  (p.  125, 
Montf.),  when  he  had  fulfilled  the 
Abrahamic  order  and  course,  went  to 
Byzantium  with  his  disciple  Thomas 
of  Edessa,  “ who  now  fills  the  Archie- 
piscopal  throne  of  all  Persia  as 
Catholic  bishop.” 

2 Against  this,  several  sacred  testi- 

monies are  cited,  e.g.  (1)  Moses,  “ the 


divine  Cosmographer,”  (2)  Melchize- 
dek,  (3)  Hosea,  (4)  Zacharias,  (5) 
Daniel,  and  (6)  Christ  Himself — “ I 
thank  Thee,  O Father,  Lord  of 
Heaven  and  Earth”  (pp.  126,  127 
Montf.). 

3 E.g.  pp.  129,  130  (Montf.). 

4 Cf.  pp.  131,  132  (Montf.). 


THE  FLANS  OP  COSMAS. 

iv.  The  Present  and  Antediluvian  Worlds,  with  Ocean  between. 


[To  face  p.  288. 


VI.]  THE  TABERNACLE  AN  IMAGE  OF  THIS  WORLD.  289 


But  we  may  perhaps  except  for  a more  special  notice 
the  doctrine  here  laid  down  that,  in  the  northern  and  western 
parts  of  the  earth,  both  land  is  higher  and  sea  is  deeper 
than  in  the  southern  and  eastern  tracts.  What  clearer 
evidence  of  this  could  there  be  than  the  furious  rushing 
stream  of  Tigris  from  the  north  contrasted  with  the  even 
flow  of  Nile  from  the  south  ? 1 What  clearer  contradiction, 
we  may  add,  could  Cosmas  furnish  to  his  own  arguments 
against  Antipodes?  Could  not  the  rain  fall  up  to  them 
(however  paradoxical  it  might  sound)  if  the  river  of  Egypt 
could  run  up  from  south  to  north,  from  Ethiopia  to  the 
“ Roman  ” Sea  ? 

We  next  have  the  scriptural  account  of  the  sun’s  move- 
ments. It  rises  in  the  east,  towards  the  south,  and  so 
ascends  to  the  more  western  parts,  where  it  turns  and 
retraces  its  course  behind  the  screen  of  the  great  mountain 
in  the  north,  which  now  makes  night  “even  to  the  ocean 
beyond  our  earth,  and  thence  to  the  land  on  the  other  side 
of  the  ocean.”  2 

This  is  not  a mere  matter  of  observation.  It  is  proved 
by  the  furniture  of  the  Tabernacle,  where  the  candlestick, 
placed  to  the  south  of  the  table  of  shjewbread,  typified  the 
heavenly  luminaries  shining  upon  the  earth.  By  the  moulding 
also  that  Moses  put  round  about  the  same  table  of  shewbread 
was  signified  the  ocean  that  encompasses  our  present  world, 
and  by  the  “ crown  of  a palm’s  width  ” beyond  the  moulding 
was  plainly  indicated  the  former  world  of  the  patriarchs  on 
thejyther  side  of  ocean,  where  man  lived  before  the  flood.! 

Hence  Cosmas  naturally  floats  off  into  one  of  his 
favourite  digressions,  on  that  primaeval  earth  which  contained 


V 


V 


V 


1 Cf.  p.  133  (Montf.). 

2 Day  therefore  equals  a course  of 
the  sun  from  east  to  west  by  the 


south;  night  a similar  course  from 
west  to  east  by  the  north.  Cf.  bk.  ii. 
pp.  134,  135  (Montf.). 


290 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


Paradise,  but  was  otherwise  barren  and  inhospitable  and 
securely  shut  off  from  us  by  the  waste  of  waters,  which  only 
the  ark  of  Noah  had  ever  crossed. 

A 

And  this,  again,  brings  him  to  the  Silk  Country  of  further 
Asia ; “ for  if,  on  account  of  a miserable  trade,  men  now  try 
to  go  to  the  ‘ Seres/  would  they  not  much  rather  go  far  beyond, 
for  the  sake  of  Paradise,  if  there  were  any  hope  of  reaching 
it  ? ” The  Seric  or  Silk  land,  indeed,  lay  in  the  most 
distant  recesses  of  India,  aAvay  past  the  Persian  Gulf,  past 
the  island  of  Ceylon.  It  was  also  called  Sina,1  and  just  as 
Barbary  or  Somaliland  had  the  ocean  on  its  right,  so  this 
remote  country  was  washed  by  the  ocean  on  the  left. 

And  so  the  Brahmin  philosophers  declared  that  if  you 
stretched  a cord  from  Sina,  through  Persia,  to  the  Roman 
Empire,  you  would  exactly  cut  the  world  in  half — and 
perhaps  they  said  true. 

“ Moreover,  forasmuch  as  beyond  Sina  on  the  east,  and 
beyond  Cadiz  on  the  west,  there  is  no  navigation,  it  is 
between  these  points  that  we  can  best  measure  the  length 
of  the  world ; ” just  as  from  the  land  of  the  Hyperboreans 
“ living  behind  the  north  wind,”  and  from  the  Caspian,  that 
flows  in  from  the  Arctic  waters,  to  the  Southern  Ocean  and 
the  extremest  coasts  of  Ethiopia,  one  may  estimate  the 
breadth.  The  first  will  be  found  to  be  about  four  hundred 
stages;  the  second  about  two  hundred.2  So  that  Holy 
Scripture  rightly  tells  us  that  the  earth  is  twice  as  long  as 
it  is  broad. 


1 I.e.  ? Malaya.  But  cf.  Yule, 
Cathay,  i. 

2 That  is,  reckoning  : 1.  The 
length — from  Sina  to  Persia,  150 
stages;  from  Persia  to  Roman  Empire, 
at  Nisibis,  80  stages ; from  Nisibis  to 
Seleucia,  13  stages  ; from  Seleucia  to 
Cadiz,  more  than  150  stages.  2.  The 
breadth — from  Northern  Ocean  to 


Byzantium, 50  stages ; from  Byzantium 
to  Alexandria,  50  stages;  from  Alex- 
andria to  the  Cataracts,  30  stages; 
from  the  Cataracts  to  Axum,  30 ; from 
Axum  to  the  incense-bearing  coast 
of  Barbary,  a district  called  Sasou, 
about  50.  The  Adule  inscription 
(140-144)  is  made  to  confirm  this. 
Cf.  pp.  136-144  (Montf.). 


■ ***-9£ 


THE  PLANS  OP  COSMAS. 

v.  The  universe,  according  to  Cosmas,  with  the  Walls  and  arch  of  Heaven.  Above, 
the  Creator  surveying  His  works.  The  rising  and  setting  sun  are  moving  round  the 
great  mountain  in  the  north. 


[To  face  p.  290. 


vi.] 


THE  HABITABLE  WORLD  AN  OBLONG. 


291 


Cosmas  then  proceeds  to  describe  the  monument  of 
Ptolemy  Euergetes  at  Adule1  and  its  vaunting  inscrip- 
tions, which  he  thinks  an  additional  proof  of  his  belief  that 
the  breadth  of  earth  is  not  more  than  two  hundred  stages. 
And  thus,  he  concludes  triumphantly,  is  Scripture  confirmed 
by  the  most  accurate  travel ; thus  may  we  discount  the  liars 
who  babble  of  another  southern  zone  beyond  the  central 
region  of  intolerable  heat.  Are  not  Greek  and  Roman  and 
Egyptian  history  and  modern  observation  at  one  with  the 
Vision  of  Daniel  in  establishing  the  truth  ? 

The  four  extremes  of  the  world,  continues  the  geo- 
grapher, are  occupied  by  four  nations.2  In  the.  East  are 
the  Indians,  in  the  South  the  Ethiops,  in  the  West  the 
Celts,  in  the  North  the  Scythians.  But  their  regions  are 
not  of  equal  extent.  As  the  world  is  an  oblong,  and  the 
length  of  it  is  from  east  to  west,  the  nations  dwelling 
upon  these  sides  have  a far  wider  range  than  those  which 
are  placed  at  the  two  ends.3 

In  this,  Holy  Scripture  is  agreed  with  not  a few  profane 
and  pagan  writers,  who  cannot  resist  the  truth ; thus  Pytheas, 
the  old  voyager  of  Marseilles  in  the  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  tells  how  he  reached  the  extremities  of  the  North ; 
and  how  the  Barbarians  of  those  unhappy  regions,  shrouded 
in  eternal  night,  yet  showed  him  the  cradle  of  the  sun, 
whose  rays  they  never  could  enjoy.4 


1 And  of  an  Abyssinian  (Axumite) 
king,  who  lived  apparently  in  the 
later  years  of  the  third  century,  a.d. 
(in  the  second,  according  to  V.  St. 
Martin;  in  the  first,  according  to 
Dillmann).  Cf.  Ed.  Glaser  Die 
Abessinier  in  Arabien  und  Afrika 
(Munich,  1895);  Gesch.  und  Geog. 
Arab.  (Anhang)  1890. 

2 Page  148  (Montf.). 

3 The  Scythians  occupy  what  is 


left  over  from  the  course  of  the  sun, 
i.e.  the  North ; the  Ethiopians  over 
against  them  extend  from  the  “winter 
East”  to  the  “ shortest  West.” 

4  Pytheas  of  Marseilles  (c.  b.c. 
300),  who  sailed  north  to  the  Shet- 
lands  and  north-east  to  the  Elbe, 
left  two  works : (1)  “ Concerning  the 
Ocean ; ” (2)  “ A Periplus,  or  Coast 
Description  from  Gades  to  the  Tanais 
(Elbe  ?).”  Though  Strabo  bespattered 


292  GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY.  [Ch. 

The  true  shape  of  earth  is  also  established  by  the  well- 
known  courses  of  the  four  great  rivers,  that  flow  across  the 
ocean  into  our  world — the  Phison,  Indus,  or  Ganges,  pouring 
itself  into  India,  and  enjoying  nearly  all  the  same  products 
as  the  Nile,  from  crocodiles  to  lotus  flowers ; the  Gihon,  or 
Nile,  that  flows  through  Ethiopia  to  Egypt ; and  the  Tigris 
and  Euphrates,  that  water  Mesopotamia — all  with  a common 
source,  in  Paradise. 

Seeing  then — resumes  the  astronomical  argument,  press- 
ing on  to  its  theological  conclusion — how  stable  a mark  of 
night  and  day,  how  sure  a guide  to  sailors  and  travellers  are 
the  luminaries  of  heaven,  we  may  be  certain  that  they  are 
not  moved  by  any  spherical  motion,  but  by  certain  rational 
virtues  that  sustain  the  light — princes  of  the  powers 
of  the  air.  But,  as  Paul  the  apostle  teaches,1  he  who 
once  had  this  power — the  devil — is  now  deprived  of  it ; and 
his  rights  are  divided  among  many  angels.  And  some  of 
these  move  the  air ; some  the  sun ; others  the  moon,  the 
stars,  and  the  clouds  of  the  sky.  For  the  work  of  angels 
is  clearly  to  minister  to  the  benefit  of  God’s  image,  which 
is  man ; just  as  the  work  of  devils  is  to  injure  the  Divine 
likeness.2 

By  the  angels,  therefore,  the  Avhole  framework  of  the 
universe  is  kept  in  order  for  our  advantage  by  the  ordinance 
of  God,  which  seemed  to  them  at  first  vain  and  burdensome. 
For  after  the  Fall,  might  they  not  think  that  the  damnation 


him  with  calumny,  no  single  traveller 
of  the  Old  World  deserved  more 
gratitude  from  geographers.  Ephorus 
is  also  quoted  by  Cosmas,  and  Xeno- 
phanes of  Colophon — valuable  for 
another  reason.  He  (like  Ptolemy) 
thought  the  known  world  was  ter- 
minated, not  by  water,  but  by  un- 
limited land,  and  therefore  (unlike 


Ptolemy)  he  rejected  the  Spherical 
doctrine. 

1 Ephes.  ii.  2 ; Cosmas,  150  (Montf.). 
So  St.  Isidore  copying  (?)  Cosmas. 

3 St.  Paul  makes  it  clear  (1  Cor. 
iv.  9)  that  angels,  devils,  and  the  souls 
of  men  are  all  included  in  this  world. 
“ We  are  made  a spectacle  to  angels 
and  to  men.”  Cf.  Cosmas,  157  Montf. 


THE  PLANS  OF  COSMAS. 

vi.  The  Great  Mountain  in  the  North,  with  the  rising  and  setting  sun. 


[To  face  p.  292. 


VI.]  ANGELS  THE  LAMP-BEARERS  OF  THE  SKY.  293 


of  man  was  hopeless,  and  that  the  expectation  of  the  creature 1 
would  wait  in  vain  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God  ? 2 
It  was  vanity,  they  thought,  this  work  in  man’s  behalf ; and 
so,  as  it  is  said,  they  were  subject  to  the  same  unwillingly 
by  the  might  of  Him  who  subjected  them  to  their  task  in 
hope.3  And  that  hope  of  theirs  is  twofold.  First  of  all, 
they  look  forward  to  man’s  redemption ; again,  for  them- 
selves they  expect  the  day  when  they,  the  “ creatures,”  shall 
become  equal  to  men,  the  children  of  God ; when  their 
bondage  of  corruption  shall  be  exchanged  for  the  liberty 
of  the  redeemed.4 

Great  will  be  the  amazement,  therefore,  adds  Cosmas, 
with  grim  irony,  of  these  new  legislators  of  our  world,  of 
these  wiseacres  who  think  that  all  the  lights  of  heaven 
revolve  with  the  natural  and  uniform  motion  of  a sphere, 
when  at  the  last  day  they  discover  the  truth,  when  the 
angels  cease  their  ministry,  and  every  star  falls  from  its 
place.  Greater  still  will  be  their  horror  when  they,  who 
have  denied  the  “ blessed  hope  and  coming  of  the  great 
God  and  our  Saviour,”  will  hear  the  sentence,  “ Depart  from 
Me,  ye  who  work  iniquity.”  5 For  this  is,  indeed,  wicked- 
ness,— to  believe  in  a Universe  where  nature  stands  for 
God,  impersonal  force  for  personal  agency,  and  the  spherical 
doctrines  of  men  for  the  truth  revealed  in  Scripture.6 

But  let  us  leave  these  men,  laughs  our  philosopher, 
whose  arguments  are  as  much  in  a circle  as  their  system ; 
and  let  us  see  what  the  Divine  Word  teaches  us  about  the 
four  elements  of  matter. 


1 Themselves,  the  angels. 

2 Pages  151-151  (Montf.). 

3 Rom.  viii.  19-22. 

4 Just  ,as  each  private  person, 

indeed,  has  his  angel,  so  races  and 

kingdoms  have  archangels  told  off  to 


look  after  them  (Cosmas,  p.  154 ; cf. 
Dan.  x.  13 ; Acts  xii.  15 ; Matt,  xviii. 
10). 

5 Page  155  (Montf.). 

6 I.e.  of  the  Tabernacle  and  its 
symbolism. 


294 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[On. 


First  in  the  order  of  creation  was  the  arid  element  of 
earth  as  the  base  of  all  things ; 1 upon  the  stable  element 
was  then  laid  its  corrective,  the  humid  element  of  water; 
upon  the  humid,  the  cold  dry  principle  of  air ; upon  the 
cold,  the  heat  of  fire.  Thus  the  mixture  was  complete,  and 
the  two  opposites,  earth  and  fire,  whose  coming  together 
would  reduce  the  world  to  ashes,  were  securely  separated 
by  the  intermediates.  It  was  by  the  interaction  of  these 
elements  that  rains  and  earthquakes,  like  eclipses,  were 
brought  about ; but  as  these  were  effected  through  angelical 
virtues  acting  on  the command  of  God,  they  were  not  to 
be  curiously  investi Faith  must  believe,  not  question 


And  just  as  by  referring  to  Scripture  Cosmas  has  cleared 
his  own  mind  upon  the  great  laws  of  nature,  so  in  the  special 
question  of  the  Antipodes,  the  same  guide  is  at  hand,  suffi- 
cient and  decisive.  The  Bible  will  not  allow  us  even  to 
hear  or  speak  of  such  an  absurdity  as  a world  facing  down- 
wards. There  is  only  one  “ face  ” of  earth,  that  which  God 
has  given  man  to  dwell  on — the  face  we  know.  It  is  not 
“ upon  every  face,”  upon  more  than  one  face,  or  upon  the 
back  or  side  of  the  world  that  man  has  been  planted;  he 
can  know  no  other  than  that  which  was  from  the  beginning. 
In  particular,  this  blasphemous  theory  of  Antipodes  makes 
Christ  a liar  and  His  Word  not  in  us.  For  how  could  we 
possibly  exercise  the  power  He  gave  us  of  treading  on 
serpents  and  scorpions  when  walking  reversed  ? 2 It  is  plain 
that  our  only  safe  way  in  geography  and  in  all  science  (as 
in  our  common  life)  is  to  follow  the  Word  of  God,  and 
steadily  refuse  to  be  carried  about  with  every  wind  of 
doctrine. 

1 A good  deal  of  this  is  from  the  I distorted  shape. 

Timaeus  of  Plato  in  a more  or  less  | 2 Page  157  (Montf.). 


how. 


[To  face  p.  294. 


VI.] 


SCRIPTURAL  PROOF  OF  COSMAS’  SYSTEM. 


295 


In  his  next  section 1 Cosmas  goes  on  to  explain  more  at 
length  what  he  has  hinted  at  already,  and  what  was  so  clearly 
taught  in  the  history  of  the  chosen  people,  that  the  Taber- 
nacle was  an  exact  image  of  the  universe — “ see  thou  make  all 
things  according  to  the  pattern  2 shown  thee  in  the  mount.” 
He  also  illustrates  his  doctrines  about  the  firmament  and 
the  shape  of  this  world  by  some  rather  startling  applications 
of  well-known  texts.  Thus  the  Tower  of  Babel  was  built  in 
the  mistaken  belief  that  the  heaven  was  spherical ; the  part- 
ing of  the  Red  Sea  proved  the  truth  of  that  divisipn  which 
God  made  in  the  beginning  between  the  waters  above  and 
below  the  firmament ; the  distribution  of  creation  over  six 
days  was  for  the  instruction  and  edification  of  the  angels.3 
On  the  other  hand,  the  fall  of  the  devil  4 was  a direct  result 
of  the  angelic  power  over  nature.  Entrusted  with  the  care 
of  earth  and  sea  and  sky  in  the  service  of  man,  who  was  the 
“ bond  of  the  universe  and  the  flower  of  creation,”  the  head 
of  Lucifer  was  turned  by  this  overwhelming  honour,  and  he 
rebelled  against  his  Maker. 

From  the  figure  of  the  Tabernacle,  which  on  its  outside 
typified  earth  and  on  its  inside  heaven,  it  was  also  apparent 
that  only  two  heavens  existed  in  nature  answering  to  the 
two  holy  places,  and  not  seven  or  eight  or  nine,  as  some 
had  impiously  said. 

Cosmas  then  turns  again  to  his  polemics  with  the 
“ sphericists,”  and  indignantly  asks  them  to  explain  away. 


1 Bk.  iii. 

2 I.e.  of  the  creation  just  revealed 
to  Moses  in  its  six  days  or  parts  (pp. 
162, 163  (Montf.). 

3 Pages  166,  167  (Montf.). 

4 A striking  picture  is  drawn 
(pp.  167,  168,  Montf.)  of  the  angels 
on  their  first  creation  looking  with 
wonder  upon  one  another : “ Who 


brought  us  here?”  Then,  as  God 
called  up  the  light,  the  truth  dawned 
on  them — He  who  created  this  from 
nothing  must  have  created  them. 
And  just  as  light  was  brought  into 
being  to  teach  the  angels,  so  woman 
was  created  to  instruct  man  as  to  who 
was  his  Creator  (cf.  p.  172,  173, 
Montf.). 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


296 


if  they  can,  six  passages  of  Scripture  which  plainly  disproved 
their  heresy.1  One  slight  difficulty  of  his  own  he  promptly 
dismisses.  When  St.  Paul  was  caught  up  into  the  third 
heaven,  this  only  meant  one-third  of  the  space  between 
heaven  and  earth,  and  did  not  impair  the  great  truth  he 
had  just  stated.  Only  two  heavens  could  be  proved  from 
Holy  Writ. 

Then,  with  a few  words  of  contempt  for  the  arts  and 
sciences  of  the  Greeks,  which  had  led  them  to  assert  the 
damnable  doctrines  of  the  eternity  of  the  world  and  of 
matter,2  the  Christian  Topographer,  quoting  a number  of 
texts  in  support  of  his  own  system,  passes  on  to  recapitulate  3 
the  Scriptural  teaching  about  the  shape  of  this  world. 

And  the  result  of  this  is  as  follows  : 4 First  of  all,  we 
must  picture  the  flat  earth  hung  on  nothing,  as  Job  said,  but 
founded  on  God’s  stability,  and  over  it  the  arched  heaven 
joined  or  “ glued  ” 5 to  the  earth  along  its  extremities.  This 
great  dome  is  cut  in  two  by  the  firmament ; from  the  earth 
to  the  firmament  is  the  present  dispensation  of  angels  and 
men ; from  the  firmament  to  the  arch  of  the  second  heaven 
is  the  kingdom  of  the  blessed  into  which  Christ  has  entered.6 
To  illustrate  all  this,  Cosmas  gives  several  maps  or  pictures 
of  his  system ; and  with  infinite  repetitions  tells  us  again 
about  the  encircling  ocean,  the  world  beyond  the  ocean,  and 
the  great  mountains  in  the  North,  whose  summits  at  night 
intercept  the  light  of  the  sun. 


1 Among  these  the  most  impor- 
tant are:  (1)  the  sun  and  moon 
standing  still  at  the  command  of 
Joshua ; (2)  the  shadow  going  hack 
ten  degrees  on  the  dial  of  Ahaz  (p. 
176,  Montf.). 

2 Cf.  p.  182  (Montf.). 

3 Cf.  pp.  186-189  (Montf.). 

4 Bk.  iv. 

5 Conglutinavi,  /ce/co'AArj/co  in  Job 


xxxviii.  38  (Septuagint). 

6 Of  this  second  heaven,  the  firma- 
ment is,  of  course,  the  floor,  as  the 
earth  is  of  the  lower  region.  From 
some  passages  in  bk.  ix.  it  may  be 
guessed  that  Cosmas  reckoned  the 
distance  from  the  earth  to  the  firma- 
ment as  double  the  distance  from 
the  firmament  to  Ihe  summit  of  the 
Upper  Heaven  (Me.  Cr.). 


VI]  WICKED  FOLLY  OF  THE  GREEKS  IN  GEOGRAPHY.  297 


His  fourth  section  concludes  with  some  more  problems 
for  the  unhappy  “ sphericists.”  First,  he  begs  to  be 
informed  how  they  propose  to  impart  motion  to  their  rich 
assortment  of  spheres,  of  which  they  are  so  proud.  For, 
according  to  them,  no  place,  body,  or  element  can  exist 
outside  the  sphere  : whence,  then,  its  motive  power  ? Again, 
these  fancied  spheres  are  mobile : how  can  these  possibly 
retain  water,  such  as  we  have  in  seas,  rivers,  and  lakes  ? 

In  fact,  the  whole  thing  is.  nonsense ; the  only  marvel 
is,  how  a Christian  can  believe  this  pagan  rubbish.  The 
teaching  of  his  own  Scriptures  is  perfectly  clear ; and  it 
would  be  well  for  him  not  to  try  and  serve  two  masters,  or 
to  eat  at  the  table  of  the  Lord  and  the  table  of  devils.1 

Both  the  prophets  and  the  apostles,  we  have  seen,2  agree 
on  this  point — that  the  Tabernacle  is  a true  copy  of  the 
universe,  the  express  image  of  the  visible  world.  Cosmas 
now  undertakes  (with  much  else)  to  explain  the  symbolism 
of  that  Tabernacle  in  detail.  In  all  this,  repeating  at  great 
length 3 what  has  been  said  before,  we  will  not  follow  him 
here.  But  his  conclusion,  though  only  a restatement  of 
earlier  rhapsodies,  is  fuller  and  more  emphatic. 

Every  true  Christian,  believing  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  is  bound  to  reject  the  Satanic  errors  of  the 
Greeks  in  geography,  just  as  he  would  reject  infidelity  in 
religion;  for  the  fancy  of  a round  world  abolishes  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  future  state,  and  makes  of 
none  effect  the  resurrection  of  Christ.4  The  assertors  of 


1 Cf.  pp.  190-192  (Montf.). 

2 Bk.  v. ; cf.  p.  192,  etc.  (Montf.). 

3 Cf.  pp.  194-260  (Montf.). 

4 Cf.  pp.  260-263  (Montf.).  This 
endsbk.  v.,with  which  bk.x.is  closely 
connected,  both  in  subject-matter 
nnd  because  the  former  is  almost 
•entirely  composed  of  Scriptural  quo- 


tations, the  latter  of  patristic — with 
applications  even  more  removed,  if 
possible,  from  the  precincts  of  com- 
mon sense.  Bk.  x.  concludes  with 
another  passionate  outburst:  “Oh, 
wonderful  agreement  of  the  Church, 
of  the  doctors,  of  the  mysteries  of 
God.  Oh,  unity  in  things  least 


298 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


Antipodes  are  only  to  be  classed  with  Jews,  Manickeans, 
Samaritans,  and  other  heretics. 

Cosmas  next1  devotes  his  genius  to  answering  an  ugly 
question  raised  by  some  infidels— “ How  can  the  sun  be 
hidden  as  you  say  behind  the  northern  parts  of  the  earth, 
when  it  is  many  times  bigger  than  the  earth  ? ” 2 False, 
he_ replies,  is  this  figment  of  theirs;  so  far  from  being 
greater  than  our  world,  the  sun  is  only  equal  to  two  of  the 
seven  belts  or  climates  3 of  the  same.  This  is  proved  by  his 
own  observations  on  the  length  and  inclination  of  shadows 
at  midday  in  Abyssinia  and  in  Egypt,  and  by  similar 
reckonings  of  his  friend  Stephen  the  priest  in  Antioch  and 
in  Constantinople.  For  if  in  the  third  climate,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  summer,4  the  shadow  declines,  as  in  fact  it 
does,  only  one  foot  to  the  north  (viz.  at  Alexandria),  in  the 
second  half  a foot  (viz.  at  Siene),  and  in  the  first  (at  Meroe) 
not  at  all,  is  it  not  plain  that  the  bulk  of  the  sun  can  only  be 
equal  to  this  much  of  our  earth  ? The  same  truth  is  evident 
from  similar  measurements  north  of  Egypt ; for  at  Rhodes,  in 


agreed  upon.  Ola,  involuntary  con- 
cord of  schismatics.  Oh,  unwilling 
praise  of  revilers  of  the  faith.  Who 
can  escape  damnation  that  contra- 
dicts so  great  a cloud  of  witnesses  ? 
(Cf.  pp.  329,  334,  Montf.) 

1 Bk.  vi. 

2 Page  264  (Montf.). 

3 This  use  of  the  term  was  secon- 
dary. Klima  meant,  first,  the  sup- 
posed slope  of  the  earth  from  a higher 
north  to  a lower  south,  or  vice  versa ; 
secondly,  from  Hipparchus’  day,  b.c. 
160,  the  different  belts  or  zones  of 
the  curved  or  spherical  earth-surface 
as  determined  by  the  different  lengths 
of  the  longest  day ; thirdly,  the 
average  temperature,  etc.,  of  each 
zone.  Cosmas’  argument  from  the 
breadth  of  the  climates  is  quite  at 


variance  with  that  from  the  length 
of  shadows.  The  former  would  re- 
quire the  sun  to  be  about  66,260  miles 
from  us,  the  latter  about  4,400  miles. 
The  shadow-arguments  which  he  ad- 
vances in  this  book  in  support  of  his 
flat  earth  are  curiously  perverse.  He 
had  noticed  that  shadows  of  identical 
objects  were  of  different  lengths  in 
different  latitudes ; this  variation  of 
course  proceeds  from  the  curvature  of 
the  earth ; but  Cosmas,  assuming  the 
sun  to  be  a little  object , close  at  hand, 
uses  this  point  against  the  very  thing 
it  really  establishes.  The  shadow- 
reckonings  of  Stephen  at  Antioch, 
which  Cosmas  quotes,  would  require 
a human  figure  somewhere  about  six 
feet  nine  inches  in  height.  (Me.  Cr.) 

4  Solstice  ? lit.  summer  change. 


\J 

* 


VI.]  THE  SUN  MUCH  SMALLER  THAN  THE  EARTH.  299 


the  fourth  climate,  the  shadow  declines  a foot  and  a half ; 
near  Byzantium,  in  the  fifth,  two  feet ; and  so  on.  How, 
then,  can  they,  who  babble  of  the  sun  being  larger  than  the 
earth,  prevent  their  opinions  from  being  proved  most  false 
and  fabulous  ? 1 How  is  it,  if  the  earth  be  spherical,  as  they 
pretend,  that  the  shadow  does  not  vary  on  this  convex 
surface  ? Still  more  pitiable  is  their  plight  when  they  are 
examined  in  a common-sense  way  about  the  form  of  these 
shadows.  For  they  assert  that  when  the  illuminating  body 
is  greater,  and  the  illuminated  less,  but  both  round,  the 
shadow  cast  must  be  conical,  as  the  rays  of  the  larger 
sphere  pass  beyond  the  smaller.  Cosmas  proceeds,  both  by 
recounting  his  own  observation,  and  by  demonstrations 
illustrated  with  diagrams  from  a “wooden  sphere”  and  a 
“ conical  vessel,” 2 to  demolish  this  error,  by  a curious 
process  of  reasoning  which  really  depends  upon  two  assump- 
tions— first,  that  the  sun  is  very  near  the  earth;  and, 
secondly,  that  the  size  of  the  luminary  is  very  small.3  He 
then  returns  to  discuss  the  two  worlds  of  his  system — upper 
and  lower — answering  to  the  present  and  future  states  of 
man.  As  if  this  were  not  already  sufficiently  established, 
he  overwhelms  us  with  fresh  proofs.  From  the  duality  of 
human  nature,  with  its  body  and  soul,  from  the  two  trees 
in  the  middle  of  Paradise,  from  the  two  sons  of  Abraham 
and  of  Isaac,  from  the  Jewish  tabernacle  and  temple,  and 
from  the  word  of  the  angels  to  the  shepherds  (“  Glory  to 
God  in  the  highest , and  on  earth  peace  ”),  the  two  chambers 
of  the  universe  are  made  manifest  once  more.4 

The  next  point  to  be  decided  is  the  duration  of  the 


1 Pages  264,  265  (Montf.). 

2 Page  266  (Montf.). 

3 In  modern  figures  Cosmas’  sun 

should  be  about  4400  miles  from  us, 


and  its  diameter  about  forty-two 
miles,  to  give  effect  to  some  of  his 
arguments  in  this  book.  (Me.  Cr.) 

4  Pages  268,  269  (Montf.). 


300 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


heavens ; and  here,  as  before,  Cosmas  1 assures  us  there  is 
no  way  of  meeting  the  heresies  of  the  Greeks,  save  by  going 
to  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  destroying  their  assumptions 
by  the  letter  of  Scripture  and  the  voice  of  common  sense. 
Any  other  method  is  but  a building  on  the  sand. 

Thus,  by  the  syllogism,2  the  Greeks  have  proved  that  if 
spherical  and  revolving,  the  heaven  must  be  eternal ; and 
those  weak  and  foolish  Christians  who  admit  the  roundness 
and  the  motion,  are,  of  course,  obliged  to  accept  the  eternity. 
Whereas  the  true  answer  is  this.  Scripture  tells  us  plainly 
that  the  heaven,  like  the  earth,  is  to  be  dissolved.  There- 
fore we  cannot  believe  that  it  is  spherical  or  in  motion. 
Because,  being  endowed  with  ordinary  reasoning  powers,  we 
cannot  accept  the  monstrous  position  of  the  neutral,  who 
maintains  that  the  world  may  be  round  and  yet  come  to  an 
end. 

A friend  of  Cosmas,  one  Anastasius,  had  told  him  of  the 
existence  of  such  a person ; and  he  was  indeed  deserving  of 
great  pity.  Like  an  ignorant  and  unskilful  traveller,  he 
had  lost  his  way,  and  was  wandering  among  brambles  and 
pitfalls  in  the  pathless  wastes  of  a science,  falsely  so  called. 

Yet  there  is  an  eternal  heaven,3  indissoluble  and  invisible ; 
so  countless  texts  make  evident,  and  they  blaspheme  who 
think  that  this  heaven  of  heavens  shall  ever  pass  away. 

Another  vital  truth  now  awaits  a further  exposition — 
the  separate  generation  of  heaven  and  earth.4  The  Book  of 
Genesis,  with  the  true  instinct  of  Biblical  science,  leaves  no 
doubt  as  to  their  twofold  and  independent  being.  For  it 
tells  us  of  the  generation  of  the  “ heaven  and  the  earth,” 


1 Bk.  vii.,  p.  274,  etc.  (Montf.). 

2 Arguing  thus : What  is  spherical 

and  revolving  must  be  eternal;  the 
heaven  is  spherical  and  revolving: 

therefore  the  heaven  must  be  eternal. 


3 Pages  278,  279  (Montf.) ; cf. 
Matt.  xx.  23;  1 Cor.  xv.  12,  13,  15, 
16,  etc.  This  is  the  Upper  Heaven. 

4 Pages  296,  297  (Montf.),  repe- 
tition from  bk.  i. 


VI.] 


AGAINST  ANTIPODES. 


301 


that  is,  obviously,  of  everything  contained  in  both.  But 
the  old  wives’  fable  of  the  Antipodes  would  make  the  heaven 
surround  and  include  the  earth,  and  God’s  Word  would  have 
to  be  changed ; — 44  These  are  the  generations  of  the  sky.” 

In  support  of  the  same  truth,  Cosmas  quotes  the  added 
testimony  of  Abraham,  David,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  Zachariah,  and 
Melchizedek,  who  clenched  the  case  against  the  Antipodes 
— 44  For  how,  indeed,  could  even  rain  be  described  as  4 fall- 
ing ’ or  4 descending  ’ in  regions  where  it  could  only  be  said 
to  4 come  up  ’ ? ” Over  against  these  disproofs  of  folly  and 
error  stands  the  countless  array  of  evidences  for  the  true 
tabernacle  theory,  for  the  flatness  and  immutability  of  earth, 
founded  upon  God’s  stability,  and  for  the  shape  of  heaven, 
stretched  like  a skin-covering  over  our  world,  and  glued  to 
the  edges  of  it  at  the  horizon. 

To  illustrate  these  points,  the  44  man  of  science  and  of 
the  Church  ” here  inserts  a plan  of  the  universe,  showing  its  v 
exact  adaptation  to  the  tent  of  the  wilderness,  and  accom- 
panies it  with  a learned  discourse  on  the  human  womb,  as  a 
type  of  the  world,  containing  the  four  elements — of  heat, 
cold,  dryness,  and  humidity.1 

He  then  returns  with  wonderful  iteration  to  confute  the 
infidel  doctrine  of  the  spheres — of  the  moon,  planets,  and 
fixed  stars,  whom  the  heretics  make  into  deities ; and  with 
which  they  empty  of  meaning  the  ascension  of  Christ.  For 
how  could  He  mount  44  above  every  principality  and  power  ” 
when  the  44  towers  ” of  the  zodiac  remained  outside  ? Such 
errors  make  Him  a liar,  like  His  apostle  ; they  bring  in  both 
equality  and  plurality  of  gods,  and  are  soul-destroying.2 

The  weak  and  wandering  Christians  who  allege  the 
authority  of  Origen,  44  that  marvellous  man,”  to  condone  the 
folly  of  these  dreamers ; who  fancy  that  after  death  the  souls 


Page  295  (Montf.). 


2 Pages  297,  298  (Montf.). 


302 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


of  men  are  whirled  round  with  the  spheres ; or  who  declare 
the  world  to  he  without  beginning  or  end,  ever  passing 
through  generation  and  corruption, — virtually  blaspheme 
God  in  so  doing,  and  make  Him  powerless,  non-existent,  or 
a lover  of  evil. 

Cosmas  passes  again  from  these  deplorable  compromises 
with  the  spirit  of  worldly  vanity,  and  dwells  long  and 
tenderly  upon  the  story  of  the  lengthening  of  Hezekiah’s 
life,  signified  by  the  return  of  the  shadow  upon  the  dial  of 
Ahaz — that  convincing  proof  to  Jews  and  Gentiles  alike, 
of  the  true  cosmography;  where  God  “sitteth  upon  the 
circle  of  the  earth,”  the  immovable  arch  of  heaven,  where 
He  “stretcheth  out  the  skies  as  the  curtains”  of  the 
Tabernacle,  and  “ spreadeth  them  as  a tent  to  dwell  in.” 1 

The  last  point 2 that  remains  to  be  cleared  up  in  Christian 
science  is  the  course  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  There  is,  we 
are  told,  an  upper  and  a lower  movement.  That  of  the  twelve 
months  is  the  upper;  that  of  sun  and  moon  is  the  lower. 
This  needs  no  proof.  It  is  fully  typified  in  the  candlestick 
of  the  Tabernacle.  Still  less  does  it  call  for  curious 
scrutiny.  For  it  is  all  effected  by  the  invisible  power  of 
God. 

Some  details,  however,  Cosmas  does  supply.  He  tells 
how  the  circuit  of  the  sun  gains  on  that  of  the  moon  twelve 
portions  daily  in  its  course  of  thirty  days ; how  the  “ months  ” 
again  pass  the  sun  by  one  portion  daily ; he  adds  a plan  to 
depict  the  cycle  of  the  months ; and  he  closes  his  work 
with  testimonies — from  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  and  from 
many  pagan  doctors,  Chaldtean,  Egyptian,  Greek,  and  other, 
— to  the  truth  of  that  doctrine  of  geography  which  he  has 
already  built  up  out  of  Holy  Scripture.3 

1 Bk.  viii.  300-306,  etc.  (Montf.) ; 

Isa.  xl.  21,  22. 


2 Bk.  ix.  309,  310,  etc.  (Montf.). 

3 Bks.  x.  and  xii.  Of.  315-334, 340- 


VI.]  THE  ANONYMOUS  GEOGRAPHER  OF  RAVENNA.  303 

His  last  words  seem  to  show  a quiet  satisfaction  in  a 
great  task  manfully  accomplished.  He  felt  himself  to  he 
the  apostle  of  full  supernatural  theory  in  science.  He  knew 
that  his  work  was  unique.  And  such  it  has  always  been 
recognised — by  some  with  rapture,  by  others  with  conster- 
nation, by  most  with  derision.  At  least  it  is  a monument 
of  infinite,  because  quite  unconscious,  humour.  “ For  neither 
before  him  was  any  like  unto  him,  neither  shall  be  after.” 


III. — The  Ravennese  Geographer. 

It  was  apparently  about  a century  after  Cosmas — about 
a.d.  650 — that  the  next  important  work  of  Christian  geo- 
graphy, and  that  one  of  purely  statistical  object,  was  com- 
piled in  the  West.  An  anonymous  student,  living  at 
Ravenna,  then  set  forth  the  result  of  his  studies  in  a series 
of  tables  professing  to  give  the  contents  of  every  country 
under  heaven,  the  political  divisions,  the  towns  and  the 
chief  natural  features  of  each.  These  tables,  however,  were 
confessedly  abstracted  from  older  writers,  even  for  the 
author’s  own  land  of  Italy ; and  the  only  original  part  of 
the  new  treatise,  in  any  sense,  was  contained  in  the  intro- 
ductory section  upon  the  general  divisions  of  the  earth  (in 
correspondence  with  the  divisions  of  day  and  night  by 
hours),  and  in  some  of  the  remarks  upon  the  boundaries  of 
the  continents  and  greater  kingdoms.  Even  their  origin- 
ality is  nevertheless  but  nominal,  and  lies  in  their  being 
rather  adapted  than  literally  copied  from  the  authorities 
followed  throughout. 


345  (Montf.).  Bk.  xi.  is  occupied  with 
practical  notes  on  Ceylon,  etc. — See 
Commercial  Travel.”  Bk.  xii.  is 
not  in  the  oldest  (Vatican)  manu- 
script, and  is  imperfect  in  the  Floren- 


tine. It  contains  Cosmas’  vindication 
(from  secular  learning)  of  his  Scrip- 
tural geography.  Cf.  list  of  authors 
quoted  by  him  in  note  1,  to  p.  280. 


304 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 

Two  centuries  later,  the  compilation  of  the  Ravennese 
was  itself  abstracted  and  plundered  by  one  Guido,  also  a 
native  of  Ravenna  (c.  850).  But  whereas  the  “ Anonymous  ” 
at  least  attempted  a description  of  the  whole  world,  Guido’s 
tables  only  included  Italy  and  the  neighbouring  islands ; 
with  a brief  survey  of  the  Mediterranean  coasts  and  ports,  and 
some  notes  upon  the  boundaries  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa. 

The  main  interest  of  the  Ravennese  geographer,  as  of 
Guido,  consists  in  the  question  of  his  sources.  And  even  a 
cursory  reference  to  these  shows  us  that  he  rather  belongs 
to  the  survivals  of  ancient  science  than  to  the  mediaeval 
workers,  in  the  proper  sense.  He  thus  offers  a singular 
contrast  to  Solinus.  Whereas  the  latter,  though  a pagan,, 
is  of  primary  importance  for  the  geographical  ideas  of  the 
Dark  Ages, — the  Ravennese,  on  the  other  hand,  devout 
Christian  as  he  was,  scarcely  belongs,  except  for  the  fact 
of  his  creed  and  time,  to  Christian  geography  at  all.  His 
place  is  as  a copyist  of  the  old  pre-Christian  itineraries  ; 
even  more  than  of  those  writers  who  belonged  comparatively 
to  his  own  time,  such  as  the  “Gothic  philosophers”  he 
so  constantly  produces.  Thus  Ptolemy,  whose  elaborate 
scientific  work  was  naturally  outside  the  range  of  geogra- 
phers dependent  on  and  content  with  Solinus  and  the 
pilgrim-travellers,  appears  to  have  been  used,  at  least  in 
reference  to  some  of  his  catalogues  of  place-names,  by  the 
Ravennese.1  The  latter,  therefore,  must  have  been  a good 
way  removed  from  the  spirit  of  his  time  in  the  material 
which  he  transcribed : although  his  use  of  that  material  is 
pretty  much  on  a level  with  his  contemporaries’.  If  he 
had  the  enterprise  to  seek  out  better  guides,  his  stupidity 
and  ignorance  prevented  his  gaining  much  profit  from  their 

1 Cf.  the  numerous  identifications  I lemy’s  names)  in  Pinder  and  Par- 
(between  the  Ravennese  and  Pto-  | they’s  edit,  of  Raven.,  e.g.  pp.  101, 105. 


VI.] 


AUTHORITIES  OF  THE  RAVENNESE. 


305 


guidance.  The  Ptolemy  he  quotes  is  always  confused  with 
the  “King  of  the  Macedonians  in  Egypt;”  Jornandes,  the 
historian  of  the  Goths,  though  professedly  one  of  his  main 
authorities  for  Northern  Europe,  regularly  appears  as  Jor- 
danis ; and  the  blunders  of  his  place-name  transcripts  too 
often  prove  him  equally  servile  and  ignorant.1 

Yet  his  advantages  were  apparently  great.  He  seems  to 
have  known  Greek,  as  he  not  only  refers  in  many  places  to 
the  works  of  Greek  philosophers,  but  in  the  case  of  Persia 
acknowledges  his  debt  to  a description  of  that  country 
written  in  the  Greek  language ; Greek  words  he  quotes  in 
Latinised  and  often  barbarised  forms  with  almost  Ciceronian 
frequency.2 

But  besides  Greek,  which  gave  him  Ptolemy  and  so 
many  others  to  draw  from,  he  had  several  new  and  valuable 
records  of  the  Teutonic  conquerors  from  the  North  (“Gothic 
Cosmographies”),  and  several  Boman  itineraries  of  the 
Imperial  time,  probably  illustrated  by  road  maps,  such  as 
was  recovered  for  modern  study  in  the  Peutinger  Table. 
The  identical  table  of  Conrad  Peutinger  has  been  recognised 
by  some  3 in  the  work  of  Castorius,  which  forms  the  Anony- 
mous Geographer’s  main  authority,  is  cited  thirty-eight 
times  as  officially  responsible  for  more  than  half  the  entire 
compilation,  and  is  probably  the  chief  source  of  much  that 
is  not  expressly  assigned  to  any  one. 


1  Thus  in  “ Britain,”  v.  31,  we 
have  Durobrabis  andDurobrisin  for  (?) 
Durobrivse  (Rochester)  ; Venta  Vel- 
garom  for  Y.  Belgarum  (Winchester) ; 
Caleba  Arbatium  for  Calleva  Atre- 

batium  (Silchester) ; Deva  Yictns, 

Utfriconion,  Virolanium.  The  name 
of  one  city,  too,  is  constantly  made 
to  do  duty  for  several : thus  Londinis, 
Landini,  Londinium  Augusti;  Ta- 
maris,  Tamion,  etc. 


2 Thus  Britain  is  a little  world  of 
its  own,  a veritable  “ micosm  ” — such 
is  his  business-like  shortening  of  the 
famous  “Microcosm”  proverb,  so 
flattering  to  British  pride.  Such  a 
knowledge  of  Greek  was  natural 
enough  to  a subject  of  the  Byzantine 
Empire,  living  in  the  most  Byzantine 
town  of  the  Western  Exarchate. 

3 Of.  Konrad  Miller,  Weltkarte 
des  Castorius. 


X 


306 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


Oil  comparing  the  Ravennese  with  the  Peutinger  Table, 
as  we  have  it,  we  see  that  the  definite  quotations  from 
Castorius,  in  every  case  except  that  of  xirabia,  agree  with 
the  indications  of  the  table.  The  language  of  the  Anony- 
mous Compiler  also  seems  to  prove  that  he  had  some  sort 
of  a map  before  him.1  And  if  a map  at  all,  it  was  un- 
questionably one  of  roads,  stations,  and  marked  distances, 
such  as  the  Table,  which,  in  pursuit  of  its  primary  object, 
altogether  distorts  the  shape  of  the  Roman  world,  and, 
following  with  scrupulous  care  the  course  of  the  great  high- 
ways from  east  and  west,  assumes  the  shape  of  a narrow 
and  vastly  elongated  parallelogram.  Down  to  very  minute 
details,  the  correspondence  of  the  two  may  be  traced : 
Ancyra,  in  Galatia,  which  in  the  map  is  only  represented 
by  a picture  without  a name,  is  passed  over  without  mention 
by  the  Ravennese,  professedly  copying  Castorius ; on  the 
other  hand,  the  smallest  stations  are  constantly  reproduced 
— so  obscure  and  so  unimportant  that  our  Anonymous 
Geographer  would  never  have  been  tempted  to  insert  them, 
if  he  had  not  been  copying  an  itinerary.2  Again,  those 
places — for  instance,  Rome,  Antioch,  Ravenna,  Constanti- 
nople— which  are  dignified  with  the  largest  and  most 
imposing  pictures  or  vignettes  on  the  Peutinger  Table, 
are  distinguished  by  some  title,  “ most  famous  ” or  “ most 
noble,”  in  the  work  of  the  Anonymous. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  world  of  Castorius  is  larger 
than  that  of  the  Table,  and  he  gives  his  copyist  a far 
greater  number  of  place-names  in  distant  countries  such  as 
India,  and  even  in  lands  nearer  home,  than  we  find  in  the 
famous  ribbon-map.3  Both  in  the  East  and  the  North,  our 


1 Rav.  i.  18 ; v.  34. 

2 Miller,  however,  is  wrong  in  say- 
ing (p.  42)  that  Castorius  is  not  used 

by  Rav.  in  Burgundy. 


3  E.g.  in  Corsica  one  town  is 
marked  in  the  Tab.  Peut.,  five  in  the 
Ravennese,  who  is  probably  copying 
Castorius.  Cf.  the  case  of  Arabia, 


VI.]  THE  RAVENNESE  AND  THE  OLDER  ITINERARIES.  307 


Anonymous  Compiler  had  other  sources  than  the  material 
represented  in  the  Table;  and  the  authority  of  Castorius 
is  made  to  coyer  too  much  ground  for  him  to  be  identified 
with  a reviser,  still  less  with  the  original  draughtsman, 
of  the  Tabula.  All  that  can  be  safely  asserted,  there- 
fore, is  that  in  Castorius  and  his  other  Roman  authorities — 
Lollianus,  Maximus,  and  the  rest, — the  Ravennese  geographer 
had  authorities  in  the  nature  of  route-guides  or  itineraries ; 
that  some,  or  all  of  these,  were  probably  accompanied  by 
or  embodied  in  road  maps ; and  that  these  road  maps  bore 
a very  close  relation  to  the  Peutinger  Table,  over  a large 
part  of  the  known  world. 

In  answer  to  the  question,  Who  was  Castorius  ? there  is 
nothing  but  conjecture ; and  this  difficulty  has,  of  course, 
brought  upon  the  Ravennese  the  charge  of  forging  his 
authority.1  But  Lollianus,  at  any  rate,  is  an  ascertainable 
quantity,  as  he  is  known  to  have  written  about  geography 
(or  lent  his  patronage  to  such  writings)  in  the  course  of 
the  fourth  century  after  Christ  (c.  340).  He  is  quoted 
eleven  times,  over  a wide  extent,  including  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  Roman  world  in  Europe  and  Africa;  on 
Egypt  and  on  Sicily  he  would  seem  to  have  been 
especially  consulted.  His  other  guides,  with  the  exception 


not  in  Tab.  Peut.  at  all;  of  India 
Dimirica — in  Rav.  (quoting  Cast.), 
containing  sixty-two  cities  and  two 
rivers — only  a fraction  of  which  are 
in  Tab.  Peut. ; of  India  Serica  and 
India  Major,  which  in  the  Ravennese 
have  close  on  seventy  cities  and 
three  rivers  [about  forty  is  the  Peut. 
Tab.’s  allowance  of  towns  for  all 
India]. 

1 As  by  Wesseling,  in  1738;  by 
Mommsen  and  de  Rossi  in  our  own 
day.  The  last-named  has  pointed  out 
that,  among  the  authorities  quoted  by 


the  Ravennese,  Lollianus  and  Arbitrio 
were  consuls  in  355,  Probinus  and 
Marcellus  in  341.  Their  names  may 
have  been  inscribed  as  consuls  on 
maps  which  had,  e.g.,  Castorius  for 
author.  See  Mommsen,  in  Sitzung- 
berichte  der  kgl.  sachs.  Gesellschaft 
der  Wiss.,  Phil.-hist.  Classe  iii. 
(Leipzig,  1851),  pp.  80-117;  G.  B. 
de  Rossi,  in  Giornale  Arcadico,  xxiv. 
(Rome,  1852),  pp.  259-281 ; Watten- 
bach,  Deutschlands  Geschichtsquel- 
len,  6 Aufl,  i.  (1883),  p.  67. 


308 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


of  Jornandes,  who  is  quoted  ten  times,  and  one  or  two 
others  of  the  “ Gothic  ” geographers  of  doubtful  authenticity, 
are  employed  much  more  sparingly  by  our  Anonymous 
Statistician ; they  are  also,  for  the  most  part,  non-Roman. 
The  well-known  Greek  philosophers,  Porphyry,  Iamblichus, 
and  Aristarchus  are  cited  five  times,  four  times,  and  six 
times  respectively.  Among  the  other  authorities  are  several 
who,  apart  from  their  mention  in  the  pages  of  the  Ravennese, 
are,  as  he  says  himself  of  the  Indian  deserts,  “ Known  only 
unto  our  God.” 

But,  on  the  whole,  it  seems  unnecessary  to  suspect  him, 
so  vehemently  as  Mommsen  has  done.  Wherever  his 
quotations  can  be  traced,  they  are  accurate  enough  for 
practical  purposes ; his  interests  in  geography  are  not  those 
of  the  fabulist,  but  of  the  arithmetician. 

The  geographer  begins  with  a rhapsody  upon  the  im- 
mensity of  God’s  world.  Who  has  measured  the  height  of 
heaven,  the  breadth  of  earth,  the  depth  of  the  abyss  ? “ How 
great  are  Thy  works,  0 Lord — in  wisdom  hast  thou  done 
them  all.  As  for  me,”  he  proceeds,  “though  not  born  in 
India,  nor  brought  up  in  Scotland, — though  I have  never 
travelled  over  Barbary,  nor  examined  Tartary, — yet  I have 
gained  a mental  knowledge  of  the  whole  world  and  the 
dwelling-places  of  its  various  peoples,  as  that  world  has  been 
described  in  books  under  many  emperors.  For  so  Augustus 
decreed  that  every  land  should  be  taxed;  and  so  the 
doctrine  of  Christ’s  apostles  has  been  spread  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.”  What  this  amounts  to,  our  author  goes  on  to 
explain.  The  world  stretches,  in  his  conception,  from 
Britain  to  India,  and  is  to  be  divided  into  twelve  parts, 
commencing  in  the  east,  and  ending  in  the  west,  according 
to  the  twelve  hours  of  the  day.  Between  the  two  ex- 
tremities are  to  be  found  the  lands  of  Persians,  Arabs, 


VI.] 


TWELVE  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  EARTH. 


309 


Ethiops,1  Moors,  Spaniards,  Aqnitanians  and  others,  and  upon 
them  blow  the  “ six  winds  of  the  treasuries  of  God.” 

The  writer  next  meets  the  objection  that  this  division 
cannot  be  allowed,  in  that  the  sun,  though  it  may  appear 
to  stand  just  over  India  at  the  first  hour  of  the  day,  yet 
really  looks  upon  all  the  world  at  the  same  time.  He  replies 
that,  first  of  all,  this  expression — of  the  sun  shining  upon  a 
particular  country — is  a figure  of  speech,  equally  true  or 
equally  false  of  every  part  of  its  course ; and  that,  in  the 
next  place,  there  is  a real  sense  in  which  the  sun  stands  at 
a particular  place  in  the  heaven  at  a particular  time  of  the 
day;  not  in  thej sense  of  only  enlightening  a certain  country, 
or  being  only  visible  from  a limited  region;  but  as  the 
Divine  Scriptures  tell  of  Joshua’s  commands,  “ Sun,  stand 
thou  still  over  Gibeon,  and  thou,  Moon,  over  the  valley  of 
Ajalon.” 

Did  not  the  sun,  then,  asks  the  indignant  Ravennese, 
when  it  stood  over  Gibeon,  yet  look  over  all  the  world  just 
the  same.  And  “ if  by  the  horologium  of  metal  (the  clock 
of  the  seventh  century)  we  can  discern  accurately  each  part 
of  the  day  in  the  reckoning  of  hours,  how  much  more  can 
prudent  and  wise  men  reckon  what  countries  are  to  be 
taken  into  account  as  they  go  over  the  world  hour  by 
hour  ? ” 

And  if  perchance  some  contentious  person  should  question 
in  what  way  the  sun  could  be  said  to  look  upon  India  at  the 
beginning  of  the  day,  especially  when  it  is  allowed  that  an 
impassable  desert  lies  at  the  back  of  the  same  India,  he 
may  be  confronted  with  the  common  consent  of  all  phi- 
losophers, both  of  the  Church  and  “ of  this  world,”  that  the 
sun  rises  and  sets  over  India  and  over  Britain.  West  of 
Scotia  or  Ireland  is  another  impassable  tract,  the  Northern 

1 “ Qui  iEthiopes  plerique  dracone  vescuntur,  ut  testatur  psalmigraphus,”  i.  2, 


310 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


Ocean,1  beyond  which  no  land  has  ever  been  discovered ; 
but  to  attempt  to  pry  beyond  these  limits  of  the  earth  is 
flat  blasphemy  for  Christians.  It  is  clear,  from  Scripture, 
that  no  mortal  man  can  penetrate  to  the  hidden  paradise  of 
God,  which  is  in  the  furthest  East. 

And,  if  that  were  not  enough,  did  not  the  Indian  Stoics, 
did  not  the  Demons  themselves  warn  Alexander,  when  he 
reached  the  Indus,  of  this  boundless  waste  beyond  their 
country  ? Did  he  not  then  bear  witness  to  the  truth  by  turn- 
ing back  ? Nothing  is  told  us,  in  the  story  of  his  conquests, 
about  an  ocean  beyond  the  desert ; and,  indeed,  such  an  idea 
is  quite  outrageous.  Paradise  cannot  possibly  be  placed  in 
Armenia,  a land  quite  well  known;  and  with  this  heresy 
must  fall  the  companion  error  of  supposing  Tigris  and 
Euphrates  to  rise  in  that  country.  They  are  known  to  come 
out  of  Paradise : now,  Paradise  is  in  the  furthest  East, 
beyond  all  known  land ; the  sources,  therefore,  of  these  rivers 
must  be  hidden  as  well.2  As  to  the  Northern  parts  of  the 
world,  it  is  clear,  from  the  sayings  of  philosophers,  that  there, 
beyond  the  sea  of  ocean,  are  mighty  mountains,  placed 
by  the  command  of  God,  which  (as  Cosmas  had  said  in 
Justinian’s  day)  make  day  and  night  by  forming  the 
screen  behind  which  sun  and  moon  disappear  in  their 
courses.3  Some,  indeed,  deny  the  existence  of  these  moun- 
tains, declaring  the  ocean  to  be  the  end  of  the  world,  and 
even  asking  impudent  and  awkward  questions ; — Who  ever 
saw  these  mountains  with  his  own  eyes?  Where  are  they 


1 In  support  of  this,  Rav.  quotes 
(i.  5)  St.  Basil,  Bishop  of  Caesarea  in 
Cappadocia,  in  his  Hexaemeron ; 
Isidore  of  Seville ; and  among  “ philo- 
sophers of  this  world,”  Liginius, 
Cathon,  and  Iamblichus. 

2 Of  course,  adds  the  geographer, 

the  idea  of  an  immaterial  and  in- 


visible Eden  in  some  well-known 
country  is  ridiculous. 

3  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the 
Ravennese  had : (1)  neither  seen  nor 
heard  of  Cosmas’  writings,  nor  (2) 
read  the  patristic  speculations  on  tliis 
subject  which  helped  Cosmas  to  form 
his  theory. 


VI.] 


THE  NORTHERN  MOUNTAINS. 


311 


named  in  Scripture  ? Where  indeed  ? Is  it  not  clear  that, 
although  known  to  the  Creator,  they  have  been  forbidden 
by  Him  to  human  knowledge,  and  are  therefore  inaccessible  ? 
And  as  to  the  Scriptural  difficulty,  is  there  not  a plain 
reference  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  “ The  sun  came  up  oyer 
the  land,  and  Lot  entered  into  Segor  ? ” The  sun  rises  and 
sets  and  goes  to  its  own  place,  the  East  himself  proceeds  both 
to  South  and  North.1  But  the  manner  and  the  cause  of  this 
“ are  known  only  unto  God.”  2 

To  the  twelve  divisions  of  the  day  correspond  other 
twelve — of  the  night ; beginning  on  the  west  with  the  land 
of  the  Franks,  and  continuing  to  Bactria  or  the  land  of  Bok- 
hara and  Samarcand  in  Central  Asia.  This  list  of  countries, 
with  the  remarks  attached  to  each,  is  copied  in  the  main  from 
the  historian  of  the  Goths,  Jornandes,  “ wisest  of  cosmo- 
graphers,”  and  presents  no  feature  of  interest,  either  for 
comparative  wisdom  or  comparative  folly.  In  proof  of  the 
rightness  of  his  divisions,  our  geographer  appeals  to  the 
story  of  Trajan’s  march  “ along  the  whole  northern  coast  of 
the  ocean ; ” from  Holy  Scripture  he  demonstrates  that  it 
was  possible  to  divide  the  time  of  darkness  as  accurately  as 
the  time  of  daylight  (for  “ at  the  third  hour  of  the  night 
they  took  Paul  to  Festus  the  governor  ”) ; and,  lastly,  in 
answer  to  the  charge  that  his  scheme  magnified  Europe  (or 
the  portion  of  Japhet)  to  an  equality  with  Asia  and  Africa 
(or  the  shares  of  Shem  and  Ham)  together, — he  denies  the 
accusation  absolutely.  “Europe  is  far  narrower  and  less 
extensive  than  Asia,  and  that  is  answer  enough  for  you, 


1 The  “coming  up”  of  the  sun 
proves  a height  to  be  surmounted, 
Rav.  i.  9,  cf.  Eccles.  i.  5-6. 

2 In  i.  9,  Liginius  and  Ptolemy  are 
quoted  in  support  of  the  argument 
and  the  hymn  of  Rigilinus,  which 
brings  the  sun  at  night  behind,  the 


Northern  Mounts,  “Zozaico  itinere, 
ac  per  immensos  latices.”  The  notice 
of  “ rex  iEgyptiorum  ex  stirpe  Mace- 
donum  arctom  partis  descriptor  ” is, 
almost  beyond  doubt,  one  of  Claudius 
Ptolemy  confused  with  the  Dynasty. 


312 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


my  inquisitor,”  exclaims  the  Ravennese,  apostrophising,  as 
he  is  fond  of  doing,  his  critical  reader. 

The  geographer  now  passes  to  the  central  part  of  his 
work 1 — an  enumeration  of  all  the  chief  seas,  towns,  rivers, 
islands  and  peninsulas  in  the  world,  as  known  to  him ; 
and  accordingly  from  this  point  we  have  merely  catalogues 
of  names,  copied  with  many  blunders  from  previous 
writings,  mainly  of  the  itinerary  class,  and  divided  into 
countries.  Each  list,  as  we  move  from  land  to  land,  is 
introduced  by  a few  brief  remarks  upon  the  general  nature 
of  the  districts  to  be  considered,  and  upon  the  authority 
who  vouches  for  the  names  given.  The  most  usual  refer- 
ence is  to  “ Castorius,” 2 the  possible  reviser  and  editor  of 
some  ancient  road  map  like  our  own  rediscovered  Peutinger . 
Table ; but,  as  we  have  seen,  he  is  only  one  out  of  many 
sources  on  whom  the  Ravennese  depends.3 


1 Rav.  i.  17. 

2 Cosmographus  Romanorum. 

3 In  a work  so  entirely  derivative, 
it  may  be  well  to  mention  the  chief 
references  to  former  writers,  and  the 
alleged  source  of  each  part : Basil 
of  Caesarea,  Isidore  of  Seville,  and 
the  “philosophers  of  this  world,” 
Liginius , Cat] ion,  and  lamblichus,  in 
i.  5,  on  the  Northern  Ocean ; Rigi- 
linus  the  Christian  poet  on  the 
secrets  of  creation,  in  i.  9 ; Orosius 
is  referred  to  in  ii.  4 and  v.  29, — 
wisest  of  Orientalists,  “ sapientissi- 
mus  Orientis  perscrutator,”  as  he  is 
called,  in  reference  to  Ceylon ; Arsa- 
tius  and  Afroditianus  (Persians  who 
wrote  in  Greek)  are  referred  to  in  ii. 
12 ; S.  Gregory  s Homilies  in  iii.  9,  on 
Gaetulia ; also  in  section  on  .Ethiopia 
Biboblatis  (iii.  5),  Provinus  (or  Pro- 
binus)and  Melitianus  “genere  Afros  ” 
as  authorities,  additional  to  Castorius 


the  philosopher ; in  sections  on 
Northern  Europe,  e.g.  iv.  3,  besides 
Porphyry,  lamblichus  (cf.  ii  16),  and 
Lollianus,  he  names  Livanius  the 
Greek  and  Arbi  trio  the  Roman 
“ philosophers  ; ” “ Pentesileus  philo- 
sophus”  in  iv.  4,  with  Marpesius , 
and  Ptolemy,  “ rex  JEgyptiorum 
Macedonum ; ” and  in  iv.  5,  Eutropius  ; 
in  iv.  8,  9,  etc.,  Aristarchus,  “ Grse- 
corum  philosophus ; ” in  iv.  9,  Hylas; 
in  iv.  11,  Sardonius;  in  iv.  12,  13, 
Aithanarit  or  Aitanaridus,  Elde- 
valdus  and  Marcomirus  (iv.  17,  Mar- 
cusmirus),  “ Gothorum  philosophi  ; ” 
in  iv.  14,  Menelac  and  Sardatius ; 
in  iv.  15,  Marcellus  and  Maximus 
the  Roman  ; in  ii.  21,  v.  16,  Epi - 
phanius  of  Cyprus  (“ter  beatissi- 
mus  ” ) ; in  v.  33,  Virgil. 

From  ii.  I— iii.  2,  though  “many 
philosophers  ” are  constantly  referred 
to,  Castorius  is  the  only  authority 


VI.] 


THE  EAYENNESE  CATALOGUE  OF  PLACES. 


313 


Beginning  with  the  four  chief  gulfs  of  the  sea  best 
known  to  him,  those  of  Issus,  Lyons,  the  Black  Sea  and  the 
Adriatic,  he  proceeds  to  devote  the  rest  of  his  second  part  to 
Asia,  his  third  to  Africa,  his  fourth  to  Europe,  while  in  his 
fifth  and  concluding  section  he  gives  a “ coaster  ” or  periplns 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  a summary  of  islands  both  inside 
and  outside  the  “Roman  Sea.”  Under  each  country  we 
have  first  a list  of  provinces,  then  one  of  cities,  then  another 
of  rivers,  in  the  regular  order,  to  which  is  sometimes  added 
a short  description  of  mountains,  and  if  the  land  lies  upon 
the  sea-coast,  we  are  often  told  something  about  that  part  of 
the  ocean  or  other  water  on  which  it  borders.  But  the 

for  Asia  (cited)  except  for  the 
additional  witness  of  Orosius  on 
the  Indus  (ii.  4);  of  Arsatius  and 
Afroditianus  on  Persia  and  Media 
(ii.  12);  of  Porphyry , etc.  on  the 
“Mesogeon”  of  Asia  Minor  (ii.  16), 
and  of  Epiphanius  on  the  position 
of  Einocorura(os)  in  ii.  21.  Always, 
however,  the  text  is  secundum  Castori- 
um ; till  in  iii.  2,  Lollianus  is  followed, 
on  Egypt.  From  iii.  5— iii.  8,  Castorius 
again  reigns  alone,  though  others  are 
mentioned  as  confirmatory;  in  iii.  8, 

Castorius  and  Lollianus  are  coupled 
as  authorities.  From  iii.  11  to  the 
end  of  bk.  iii.  Castorius  again  alone, 
for  the  rest  of  Afkica  ; next,  for 
EuKOPE,iniv.  1 ,Jordanis  orJornandes, 
for  Scythia ; in  iv.  2,  lamhlichus  ; iv. 

3,  Livanius,  for  Black  Sea  coasts, 
though  several  others  are  cited;  iv. 

4,  Pentesileus  and  others,  especially 
“ King  ” Ptolemy , for  modern  Prussia, 
etc.;  iv.  5,  Livanius  again,  for  Dar- 
dania,  for  Thrace,  iv.  6,  for  Mysia, 
iv.  7 ; iv.  8,  9,  10,  Aristarchus,  for 
Epirus,  Macedonia,  Hellas,  etc. ; iv. 

11,  Sardonius , for  Sarmatia ; iv.  12, 13, 

Aithanarit  and  others  on  Dania,  etc. ; 


iv.  14,  Sardatius  ( = Sardonius  ?)  on 
Datia;  iv.  15,  16,  Maximus  on  Illyri- 
cum,  and  Dalmatia ; iv.  17-iv.  23, 
Marcusmirus  (Marcom-  ) on  Saxony, 
Pannonia,  Valeria,  Carneola,  Libur- 
nia,  Frisia;  iv.  24-26,  Anaridus,  or 
Aitnaridus,  on  Francia,  Thuringia, 
Suabia ; iv.  26-  iv.  38,  Castorius  again, 
on  Burgundy,  Septiman(i)a,  Italy;  iv. 
39,  Eldebaldus,  on  Brittany ; iv.  40, 
Aitnaridus  (Anar-)  on  Gascony ; iv. 
41,  Eldebaldus  on  Spanish  Gascony ; 

iv.  42-45,  Castorius  again  on  Spain. 
No  authorities  are  named  for  the 

periplus  of  , v.  1-15,  round  the 
Mediterranean  coasts ; nor  for  most  of 
the  islands  that  fill  up  the  rest  of  v. ; 
but,  in  v.  16,  Epiphanius  is  quoted  on 
the  portions  of  the  sons  of  Noah ; in 

v.  29,  Orosius  on  the  ten  cities  of 
Taprobane  or  Ceylon ; in  v.  33,  Virgil 
(“  Mantuanus  ”)  on  Thule. 

After  this  we  may  perhaps  prefer 
Avezac’s  more  charitable  description 
of  the  Eavennese,  as  an  “ ignorant 
erudit,”  to  the  contemptuous  language 
of  Letronne,  “ cette  effroyable  rhap- 
sodie,”  etc. 


314 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


whole,  from  first  to  last,  is  derived,  if  not  from  Castorius, 
then  from  Orosius,  St.  Basil,  Pope  Gregory,  Jornandes,  or 
one  of  the  other  “ Gothic  ” chroniclers ; or  from  pagan  philo- 
sophers, such  as  “ most  wicked  Porphyry.”  Of  original  or 
independent  value,  this  geography  has  practically  none  : and 
it  would  therefore  be  sheer  waste  of  time  to  summarise  its 
contents,  from  our  point  of  view.  To  the  local  antiquarian 
and  the  philologist,  the  contents  of  this  tract  are  of  very 
different  value  ; but  as  we  have  already  tried  to  show  whence 
the  Eavennese  got  his  materials  and  in  what  proportion,  it 
remains  only  to  give  a specimen  of  his  method,  and  to  notice 
one  or  two  points  in  his  collection  that  may  have  some 
special  interest. 

As  an  example,  let  us  see  what  is  told  us  about  Egypt.1 
“Many  philosophers,”  says  our  compiler,  “have  described 
this  country,  and  among  these  I have  read  Cinchris  and 
Blantasis,  who  are  natives  of  the  land,  and  have  described  the 
southern  parts  of  it,  as  well  as  Lollianus  the  Eoman ; but 
these  authors  have  not  enumerated  the  cities  of  Egypt  in 
the  same  manner ; each  has  had  recourse  to  his  own  method. 
But  I have  followed  Lollianus  in  my  list  of  the  same.  And 
these  are,  etc.” 

This  is  the  invariable  formula  of  introduction ; though,  of 
course,  the  names  are  often  changed,  and  Lollianus  in  par- 
ticular is  only  an  authority  of  the  second  class.  The  material 
thus  subdivided  and  prefaced  also  follows  an  extremely  dry 
and  regular  order : it  is  only  rarely  that  any  remarks  are 
added  to  the  place-names  which  make  up  the  bulk  of  the 
work  ; one  such  is  found  at  the  mention  2 of  Eavenna,  “ that 
most  noble  city  where  I was  born,  who  with  the  aid  of 
Christ  do  now  attempt  to  set  forth  this  geography ; ” but 
most  of  these  comments  are  absolutely  stale,  flat,  and 
1 Ray.  iii.  2.  2 Rav.  iv.  31. 


VI.] 


NOTICES  OP  PARTICULAR  SPOTS. 


315 


unprofitable,  without  either  the  daring  of  Solinus  or  the 
practical  knowledge  and  fresh  information  of  Dicuil. 

Here  and  there,  however,  we  come  to  something  more 
suggestive.  The  “silken”  or  “Seric”  division  of  India, 
where  so  many  philosophers  are  found  called  Brahmins, 
proves  the  Ravennese  guiltless  of  any  clear  ideas  of  China. 
To  him,  as  to  most  of  the  early  Christian  and  to  so  many  of 
the  pagan  scientists,  the  Canges  or  the  Bay  of  Bengal  was 
the  eastern  end  of  all  things. 

The  Indus  our  compiler  supposes  to  flow  into  the  ocean 
near  Ceylon  ; he  quotes  Orosius  for  this,  and  blames  as  igno- 
rant and  foolish  people 1 those  who  traced  the  stream  to  an 
estuary  in  the  Persian  gulf.  The  Caspian  2 he  connects  with 
the  Northern  Ocean  by  the  Culf  of  Hyrcania.  Egypt  he 
conceives  as  stretching  from  the  Southern  Ocean  to  the 
Delta ; in  “ Ethiopia  ” he  notices  the  famous  stream  of 
“ Ger,”  which  has  been  made  to  figure  so  conspicuously  in 
modern  conjecture  as  a possible  ancient  synonym  for  the 
Niger, — a river  far  outside  the  ken  of  the  Ravennese.  His 
books  told  him  of  certain  islands  in  the  ocean,  west  of 
Tangier;  and  he  confusedly  repeats  the  tradition  of  the 
Eortunate  Islands,  now  utterly  forgotten,  except  as  a 
name,  in  Europe.3  The  “ Moor  land  of  Cadiz  ” he  illus- 
trates by  a curious  story.  It  was  there  the  Vandals  fled 
after  their  defeat  by  Belisarius.  Although  he  seems  to  have 
used  some  of  the  catalogues,  at  any  rate,  of  place-names 
in  Ptolemy,  the  Ravennese  geographer  shows  nothing 
Ptolemaic  in  his  description  of  the  limits  of  Africa.  To 
his  mind  the  dark  continent  was  bounded  on  the  south  by 
the  same  ocean  that  stretched  up  to  the  Straits  of  Cadiz,  not 


1 Rav.  ii.  4. 

2 Rav.  ii.  8, 12, 20,  etc.  Ptolemy,  who 

with  Herodotus,  was  one  of  the  very 
few  ancient  geographers  acquainted 


with  the  true  shape  of  the  Caspian, 
would  have  saved  him  from  this,  if 
he  had  ever  read  him  carefully. 

I 3 Rav.  iii.  11. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


316* 


by  interminable  desert  land  that  on  the  west  forbade  any 
water-way  between  Spain  and  India,  and  on  the  other  side 
stretched  round  to  join  Asia  in  Further  India,  making  the 
Erythraean  Sea  a greater  Mediterranean. 

In  Europe  we  find  a rather  startling  picture1  of  the 
Saxon  race,  “ daring  and  most  learned , but  not  so  quick  in 
movement  as  the  Danes ; ” and  a curious  notice  of  the 
infant  Venice,  “ so  named  by  a certain  king,”  2 is  given  us 
in  Italy,  which  is  naturally  described  with  unusual  fulness, 
from  the  “ Titanic  Alps  ” to  the  “ Ionic,”  Gallic,  and  Adriatic 
Seas.  In  the  far  distant  corner  of  Gaul,  Brittany3  lies 
“ among  the  marshes  by  the  Western  Ocean.”  On  the  com- 
pletion of  his  survey  of  all  the  lands  and  ports4  on  the 
shore  of  the  “ Greek  ” or  Roman  or  Mediterranean  Sea,  the 
Ravennese  stops  to  declare  his  agreement  with  the  doctrine 
of  Epiphanius,  “ thrice-blessed  Archbishop  of  Cyprus,”  on 
the  equality  of  the  three  continents,  Europe,  Asia,  and 
Africa  (as  being  alike  portions  of  the  equally  favoured  sons 
of  Noah),  before  he  turns  to  say  a few  last  words  upon  the 
coasts  and  islands  of  the  outer  ocean.  Thule  and  the  Orkneys 
(Dorcades  insula)  he  places  east  of  Britain;5  and  with  a 
mention  of  Ireland  or  Scotia,  which,  like  Strabo,  the  geo- 
grapher locates  to  the  north  of  the  same  Britain,  and  of 
islands  in  the  Southern  Ocean  (“  near  the  Strait  of  Cades  ”) 
in  whose  hideously  distorted  names  we  may  recognise  the 
“ Fortunate  Isles  ” of  ancient  geography,  or  the  Canaries  of 
modern  time,  this  singular  catalogue  is  brought  to  an  end. 


1 Ray.  iv.  17. 

2 Rav.  iv.  29,  30.  Possibly  a con- 
fused reference  to  Attila. 

3 Rav.  iv.  40. 

4 Rav.  v.  15-17. 

5 Rav.  v.  32.  In  v.  31  he  refers 
to  the  Saxon  invasions  and  settle- 
ments in  Britain.  These  began  long 


ago,  he  says,  and  have  lately  been 
consummated  under  a chief  named 
Ansehis.  [“  Olim  gens  Saxonum 
veniens  ab  antiqua  Saxonia,  cum 
principe  Ansehis  modo  habitare 
videtur.”]  Somewhat  similar  is  his 
reference  to  Scandinavia,  or  Scanzar 
as  ancient  Scythia. 


YI.]  DICUIL  ON  THE  MEASUBEMENT  OF  THE  EAETH.  317 


IY.  Dicuil. 


Last  among  the  important  geographers  of  the  Dark 
Ages  is  Dicuil,1  the  Irish  scholar  of  the  ninth  century ; who 
has  told  us  already  about  the  first  discovery  of  Iceland,  the 
pilgrimages  of  his  countrymen  in  the  Levant,  the  fresh- 
water canal  between  the  Nile  and  the  Bed  Sea,  and  the 
commercial  or  ceremonial  intercourse  between  the  chiefs  of 
Christendom  and  Islam  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne.  We 
have  seen  something  of  the  place  which  Dicuil  occupied 
in  the  great  missionary  and  civilising  movement  of  the 
early  Irish  Church.  Here  we  have  to  ask  about  his  position 
in  the  progress  or  decline  of  science  at  this  time.  His 
“ Book  of  Measurements,”  which,  as  we  are  expressly  told, 
was  finished  in  the  “ 825th  year  of  the  Lord  of  Earth  and 
Heaven  and  Hell,”  falls  into  nine  sections.  The  first  three  are 
occupied  with  the  three  continents,  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa, 
which  (he  thinks)  had  always  been  considered  as  separate  since 
the  Julian  and  Augustan  survey,  eight  hundred  years  before. 
A fourth  section  deals  with  a special  part  of  our  Africa — 
Egypt  and  Ethiopia.  The  fifth  chapter  sums  up  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  known  world.  The  last  four  are  devoted 
to  special  subjects ; and  treat  successively  of  the  five  greater 
rivers  and  other  smaller  ones,  “ certain  islands,”  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  Tyrrhene  Sea,  or  Western  Mediter- 
ranean, and  the  six  highest  mountains. 

In  the  course  of  these  chapters,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  are  mainly  reproduced  from  older  writings,  Dicuil 


1 Who  is  also  known  as  the  author 
of  a (lost)  tract  on  grammar.  The 
survey  to  which  Dicuil  so  constantly 
alludes  in  his  first  five  chapters  was 
probably  one  undertaken  two  years 
before  the  death  of  Theodosius  the 


Great,  thinks  Parthey,  p.  xiii. ; but 
of  this  we  have  no  other  account,  and 
it  must  remain  an  open  question 
whether  Dicuil  was  relying  on  a 
forgery  or  not. 


318 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


introduces  three  dissertations  of  his  own.  Each  of  these 
comes  in  to  illustrate  some  contention  of  his  argument,  either 
in  support  or  in  refutation  of  some  statement  of  his  authori- 
ties. In  the  first  place,  the  story  of  Fidelis  helps,  as  he  thinks, 
to  prove  the  truthfulness  of  Caesar’s  surveyors,  when  they 
said  1 that  an  arm  of  the  Nile  flowed  into  the  Ked  Sea  near 
the  camp  of  Moses.  Again,  the  narratives  of  the  voyage 
of  the  Irish  hermits  to  Iceland  in  795,  and  of  similar 
ventures  among  the  Orkneys,  the  Shetlands,  the  Faroes, 
and  the  Hebrides  are  introduced  2 partly  to  confirm,  partly 
to  correct,  the  bald  note  of  Solinus  on  Ultima  Thule,  “ where 
there  was  no  night  at  the  summer  solstice,  and  no  day  at  the 
winter.”  Lastly,  the  account  of  Charlemagne’s  elephant,  so 
lately  seen  in  Dicuil’s  own  lifetime,  is  meant  to  rebut  the  rash 
assertion  of  the  same  Solinus  that  no  elephants  could  lie  dow  n. 

Dicuil  had  not  the  speculative  instinct  of  Virgil  of 
Salzburg,  his  fellow-countryman  and  predecessor  ; he  had 
too  much  reverence  for  the  learned  men  whose  books  he 
studied  to  enter  on  a regular  campaign  even  against  their 
wilder  theories ; for  the  most  part  he  is  content  with  the 
office  of  a transcriber,  and  as  Solinus  copied  Pliny,  as  Isidore 
copied  Solinus,  so  he,  at  the  end  of  the  ages,  copied  from 
each  of  his  forerunners. 

Yet  he  was  not  without  some  visitations  of  common 
sense  and  independent  judgment,  both  on  matters  which 
did  and  did  not  fall  within  his  own  immediate  observation. 

He  had  his  own  ideas  of  what  was  good  evidence  and  what 
was  bad.  He  ventured  sometimes,  we  know,  to  criticise  and 
even  to  reject  the  statements  of  his  authorities  on  certain 
details.  To  our  lasting  benefit,  he  set  a high  value  upon 
first-hand  evidence,  such  as  he  got  from  the  travellers  of  his 
own  acquaintance. 

1 Die.  vi.  20  (ed.  Parthey).  2 Die.  vii.  10,  etc. 


VI.] 


dicuil’s  authorities. 


319 


But  we  have  already  seen  the  best  of  Dicuil  in  his  notes 
upon  the  practical  travel  of  his  time.  As  a man  of  science, 
a writer  upon  geographical  theory,  he  is  really  of  small 
moment.  His  position  is  not  in  any  way  independent ; his 
measurements  are  all  derived,  with  scarcely  any  exercise  of 
judgment,  from  the  ordinary  and  misleading  encyclopaedists 
or  compilers  on  whom  his  age  relied;  and  he  only  contributes, 
for  his  own  share,  upon  general  reckonings  and  definitions, 
some  citations  from  otherwise  unknown  or  highly  mythical 
sources.  His  reading  was  unusually  wide ; he  quotes  or 
refers  to  no  fewer  than  thirty  Greek  and  Latin  writers ; 1 
and  among  them  are  Herodotus,  Thucydides,  Pytheas  of 
Marseilles,  and  Eudoxus  of  Cyzicus,  all  of  whom  gave  solid 


1 The  full  list  of  these  is : Agrippa, 
Artemidoras,  Augustus’s  Choro- 
graphy,  Caesar’s  Cosmography,  Cli- 
tarchus,  Dicmarchus,  Ephorus,  Eu- 
doxus, Fabianus,  Fidelis,  Hecataeus, 
Herodotus,  Homer,  Isidore  of  Seville, 
Juba,  Onesicritus,  Orosius,  Philemon, 
Pliny,  Priscian,  Pytheas,  Sedulius, 
Servius,  Solinus,  Statius  Sebosus, 
Theodosius’  Commissioners,  Thucy- 
dides, Timosthenes,  Virgil,  Xeno- 
phon of  Lampsacus. 

To  Pliny  (in  all)  there  are  21  quo- 
tations attributed  and  37  references 
made;  to  Solinus,  40  references  (36 
quotations);  to  Isidore,  18  refer- 
ences; to  Pytheas,  3;  to  Herodotus, 
1 (on  the  Nile-flood) ; to  Thucydides 
(Tuchidides),  1,  on  the  name 
Sicania,  for  Sicily  (viii.  3).  Eight 
pieces  of  ancient  poetry  are  quoted, 
the  first  being  the  twelve  verses  of 
the  Missi  of  Theodosius ; the  second, 
third,  fourth,  sixth,  and  eighth,  from 
Priscian  ; the  fifth  and  seventh,  from 
Virgil’s  iEneid,  iii.  571,  572 ; iv.  245- 
251.  The  lines  at  the  end  of  the 
ninth  chapter  are  Dicuil’s  own  fare- 


well to  his  readers,  and  give  us 
his  exact  date  (cf.  chs.  v.  4;  vii. 
9,  31,  50;  viii.  10,  11;  ix.  9,  12, 
13).  He  is  careful  to  mark  the 
authority  of  Virgil  as  exceptional. 
The  Theodosian  verses  are  considered 
elsewhere,  in  their  proper  place.  The 
writer’s  native  country,  Ireland,  is 
fixed  by  vii.  1-15,  esp.  § 6 ; as  his 
date  by  ix.  13.  The  name  Dicuil, 
Dicul,  or  Dichull  (as  Letronne 
points  out,  p.  8,  etc.,  of  his  edition  of 
1814),  is  common  to  several  Irish 
ecclesiastics  and  missionaries,  e.g.  (1) 
a pupil  of  St.  Fursey,  who  wrote 
(c.  a.d.  650)  “ Institutiones  ad  Mona- 
chos  ” (“  Acta  Sanctorum,”  Jan.  ii.  40, 
under  name  Tidulla);  (2)  a hermit 
who  died  in  700,  author  of  “ Exhorta- 
tions to  the  Western  Saxons ; ” (3)  an 
abbot  of  Bosenham  (Bosham) ; (4)  an 
abbot  of  Pahlacht  of  uncertain  date  ; 
(5)  an  abbot  of  Kilmor,  who  died 
about  889;  (6)  an  abbot  of  Innis 
Muredaich,  who  died  in  871.  Our 
Dicuil,  if  he  can  be  identified  with 
any  of  these,  probably  answers  to 
Nos.  4 or  6. 


320 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


material  for  geographical  work ; but  he  usually  prefers  the 
guidance  of  the  fabulists  or  of  the  commissioners  of  Theo- 
dosius, who  are  unmentioned  by  any  other  writer,  and  whose 
historical  reality  cannot  be  assumed  as  certain. 

More  than  half  of  his  little  treatise  is  composed  of 
Plinian  excerpts,  either  direct  or  through  the  medium  of 
Solinus,  which  is  his  more  usual  course;  next  in  amount 
come  the  references  to  Isidore  of  Seville  and  to  Priscian’s 
version  of  the  meagre  Periegesis  of  Dionysius ; a bare 
notice  suffices  for  the  ancient  geographers  of  real  worth. 
Two  of  his  most  trusted  guides,  the  “Cosmography”  of 
Julius  Caesar  and  the  “ Ch  orography  ” of  Augustus,  are 
probably  based  upon  the  same  fact — that  survey  of  the 
resources,  defences,  and  communications  of  the  empire 
which  was  conceived  by  the  Dictator,  and  resulted  in  the 
census,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era,  when  all  the 
world  was  enrolled.  What  the  originals  may  have  been,  we 
cannot  tell ; we  can  only  identify,  for  practical  purposes, 
the  work  quoted  by  Dicuil  with  the  vitiated  tradition  known 
as  that  of  Julius  ^Ethicus,1  and  reaching  back  only  to  the 
fifth  century.  No  true  record  of  the  first  emperors  could 
have  been  found  to  refer,  as  here  quoted  (vi.  20),  to  the 
camp  of  Moses  on  the  Red  Sea ; where  issued  the  arm  of  the 
Nile,  or  fresh- water  canal,  along  which  Fidelis  sailed. 

Further,  although  a great  reader,  Dicuil  was  far  from 
being  a good  scholar.  He  repeatedly  owns  (e.g.  vi.  27  ; ix.  1 1) 
that  he  has  forgotten  his  references;  his  quotations  are 


1 This  is  only  an  inference  from 
Julius  iEtbicus  and  later  writers 
(cf.  uEthic.,  Procemium  to  the  Cos- 
mography), but  Dicuil’s  statement  is 
probably  connected  with  some  earlier 
reports  of  similar  surveys,  as  in  Pliny’s  j 
account  of  Agrippa’s  roads  in  Gaul,  | 


and  his  measurements  in  that  and 
other  provinces,  embodied  in  his  map, 
and  painted  on  the  wall  of  the  portico 
of  Octavia  in  Rome  (H.  N.  iii.  2,  § 17 ; 
iv.  12,  § 81 ; iv.  14,  §§  98,  102).  Cf. 
Bunbury,  Anc.  Geog.  ii.  177,  178, 
693,  701. 


Vi] 


DICUIL  ON  EUROPE. 


321 


often  inaccurate,  often  quite  beyond  verification.  His  Greek 
was  probably  second-hand ; and  however  much  it  may 
surprise  us,  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  knowledge  of 
Ptolemy,1  or  any  sympathy  with  his  particular  theories. 
Of  some  of  the  contradictions  and  shortcomings  of  his  essay 
he  was  well  aware.  In  his  preface  he  warns  us  not  to  expect 
complete  agreement  between  the  reckonings  of  Pliny  and 
those  of  Theodosius ; we  are  only  to  be  careful  to  give  the 
preference  to  the  latter,  as  a more  thorough  and  reliable 
work. 

Dicuil  begins  by  telling  us  how  the  Emperor  Saint 
Theodosius,  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign,2  sent  out  his 
commissioners  to  measure  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
provinces  of  the  empire ; and  how  he  himself  proposes  3 to 
set  forth  their  results,  with  the  aid  of  what  he  has  learnt 
from  the  younger  Pliny. 

Accepting  the  usual  division  of  the  world  into  three 
parts,  as  having  come  down  from  Augustus’  Choro- 
graphy  or  Survey,  the  Irish  geographer  proceeds  to  deal 
with  Europe,  and  takes  us  through  the  provinces  of  the 
same  from  east  to  west,  from  Spain  to  Byzantium,  giving 
the  measurements  of  each.  In  all  this,  fortified  as  it  is  by 
the  authority  of  Pliny,  there  is  little  to  notice ; except 
perhaps  that  the  “ Sea  of  Pontus  ” is  made  the  eastern 
boundary  of  Italy ; that  the  “ Tuscan  Sea,” 4 in  like  manner, 
becomes  the  southern  limit  of  Achaia  ; and  that  the  earliest 
name  of  Hew  Rome  is  given  us  as  “ Logos.” 

In  the  next  part  of  his  first  section  or  chapter,  and 
before  he  moves  off  into  Asia,  Dicuil  says  a little  about  the 


1  For  he  considers  the  world,  to 
east  and  south,  as  bounded  by  seas, 

and  not  by  deserts;  and  following 

Plinran  rather  than  Ptolemaic  ideas 

of  Africa,  he  brings  up  the  Southern 


Ocean  to  the  border  of  the  Moorish 
country. 

2 Die.  i.  1. 

3 Prologue. 

4 “ Egeo-Tuscan,”  Die.  i.  12. 


322 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


countries  to  the  north  and  north-east  of  the  old  empire, 
from  Germany  and  “ Gothia  ” to  Scythia,  the  Caspian  lands, 
and  the  Arctic  and  Seric  Oceans.1 

In  Asia,  to  which  the  second  chapter  is  given,  we  have 
the  “ sea  between  Cyprus  and  Antioch  ” brought  right 
round  to  the  north  of  Syria ; “ Arabia  ” in  its  wider  mean- 
ing is  extended  westward  to  the  Nile  ; the  Taurus  range  is 
made  to  stretch,  as  usual,  across  the  whole  length  of  the 
continent  in  its  prolongations  of  Caucasus,  Elburz,  and 
Hindu  Kush;  and  the  Ganges  with  the  Indian  Ocean  is 
fixed  as  the  term  of  the  furthest  east. 


In  Africa  (the  third  chapter),  the  land  of  the  Moors, 
Numidians,  and  other  North  Sahara  peoples,  is  said  to  run 
out  immediately  to  the  Ethiopian  or  Southern  Ocean ; while 
the  common  traditions  (ultimately  derived  from  the  voyage 
of  Hanno  of  Carthage  down  the  North-West  Coast  of  Africa 
more  than  a thousand  years  before)  are  duly  recited — of 
the  Western  Horn,2  the  Gorgon  or  Gorilla  islands,  and  the 
lofty  mountain  burning  with  eternal  fires,  called  the  Chariot 
of  the  Gods.  On  the  other  hand,  the  story  of  the  Satyrs 
inhabiting  these  coasts  is  not  related  3 with  much  confidence, 
and  doubt  is  thrown  upon  the  alleged  existence  of  anything 
like  an  archipelago  “ throughout  the  whole  of  that  sea.” 

We  are  next  told4  of  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
known  world,  from  India  to  the  Straits  of  Cadiz,  and  from  the 
Southern  to  the  Northern  Ocean, — a world  which  is  considered 


1  But  though  this  might  be  called 
a tradition  of  the  China  Sea,  under 
its  right  name  and  place  “ the  Ocean 
of  the  Silk  Country,  in  the  Furthest 

East,”  he  shows  no  knowledge  of 

China  itself;  and  a little  later  ex- 
plicitly declares  that  India  is  the 

limit  of  Asia  towards  the  sunrising. 
This  is  the  implicit  or  explicit  belief 


of  almost  all  early  Christian  science. 

2 Cf.  Solinus  (56.  10),  who,  like 
Pliny,  mistook  the  meaning  of  Jceras 
in  this  connection,  making  it  “ head- 
land,” instead  of  “estuary.”  See 
Letronne,  Dicuil,  p.  80 ; Casaubon 
on  Strabo,  x.  p.  704. 

3 Die.  iv.  3. 

4 Die.  v. 


VI] 


DICUIL  ON  ASIA,  AFRICA,  ETC. 


323 


as  “ surrounded  by  water,  and  so  to  say  swimming  in  it ; ” 
and  the  result  of  this  is  very  nearly  the  symmetrical 
equation  demanded  by  Cosmas,  and  favoured  by  most  of 
the  lights  of  early  mediaeval  science.  The  “ longitude  ” of 
6630  miles  is  almost  exactly  twice  the  3348  of  the  earth’s 
“latitude.”  With  this  ends  Dicuil’s  “Book  of  Measure- 
ments ” properly  speaking ; and  it  is  commended  to  the 
reader  with  twelve  Latin  verses,  professedly  taken  from  the 
original  work  of  the  commissioners  of  Theodosius,  who 
declare  themselves  in  all  their  labours,  to  have  followed 
ancient  precedents.1 

In  the  next  (sixth)  chapter,  on  the  principal  rivers  of 
the  world — the  Nile,  Euphrates,  Tigris,  Ganges,  Indus,  and 
others — Dicuil  begins  to  quote  Solinus,  and  drops  his 
allusions  to  the  Theodosian  survey,  though  he  continues  to 
make  great  use  of  Pliny  and  the  catalogues  of  Julius 
^Ethicus.  Herodotus2  is  referred  to  upon  the  question  of 
the  annual  Nile  flood,  and  a strictly  Plinian  account  is 
given  of  the  course  of  the  great  African  river3  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Mediterranean. 

As  to  the  vexed  point  of  the  connection  of  the  Nile  with 
the  Red  Sea,  we  have  already  seen  how  the  narrative  of  the 


1  “ Veterum  Monumenta  Seeuti.” 
Cf.  their  lines  : — 

“Hoc  opus  egregium,  quo  mundi 
summa  tenetur, 

iEquora,  quo  montes,  fluvii,  portus, 
freta  et  urbes 

Signantur,  cunctis  ut  sit  cognoscere 
promptum, 

Quicquid  ubique  latet,  clemens 
genus,  inclita  proles, 

Ac  per  ssecla  pius,  totus  quem  vix 
capit  orbis, 

Theodosius  princeps  venerando  jus- 
sit  ab  ore, 


Confici,  ter  quinis  aperit  cum 
fascibus  annum  . . .,”  etc. 

The  authorship  of  these  lines  was 
attributed  to  the  priest  Sedulius,  who 
flourished  about  a.d.  410.  Of.  “ Au- 
thologia  Vet.  Lat.”  (1773),  ii.  391, 
etc. ; Miller,  “ Weltkarte  des  Cas- 
torius,”  p.  66. 

2 Die.  vi.  4. 

3 Die.  vi.  7.  On  which  Dicuil 
quotes  the  same  authorities  as  Soli- 
nus,  viz.  Pliny,  the  Punic  Books  (of 
Hanno?),  and  King  Juba. 


324 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


pilgrim  Fidelis  helped  to  establish  the  case  in  favour  of 
this  theory ; another  and  a more  mythical  authority  is 
also  quoted  in  its  support 1 — “ the  cosmography  made  in  the 
consulship  of  Julius  Caesar  and  Mark  Antony.” 

On  the  great  rivers  of  Mesopotamia  and  India,  Dicuil 
has  not  much  to  tell  us,  except  in  the  way  of  extracts  from 
Pliny  and  Solinus,  which  deal  largely  with  the  monsters 
of  these  distant  regions ; but  as  to  the  smaller  streams, 
which  are  described  from  the  " aforesaid  cosmography  ” 2 
recently  discovered  by  the  author,  we  have  some  inde- 
pendent and  curious  figuring.3 

Thus  the  Jordan’s  722  miles,  the  897  of  the  Meander, 
the  825  of  the  Eurotas,  contrast  oddly  with  the  453  of  the 
Ganges,  or  the  210  of  the  Dnieper  (Borysthenes) ; and 
the  Rhine,  “ rising  in  the  Apennine  Alps,  and  falling  into  the 
Western  Ocean,”  though  its  length  is  more  fairly  stated  at 
552  miles,  also  gives  colour  to  Dicuil’s  geography  of  rivers. 
So  does  the  source  of  Ebro,  in  the  “ Assyrian  (Asturian) 
Mountains  ” of  Pyrenees.4 

In  the  next  chapter  (the  seventh),  “ on  certain  islands,” 
which  is  the  largest  in  the  whole  book,  St.  Isidore  is  added 
to  the  works  of  reference,  notably  as  to  the  West  African 
Islands  (of  which  Dicuil  knows  no  more  than  Solinus),  and  as 
to  that  Ultima  Thule  about  which,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
the  Irish  of  this  very  time  had  gained  so  much  new  knowledge. 
Returning  from  its  digression  on  the  late  discoveries  in  the 
Northern  Ocean,  our  “ Book  of  Measurements  ” becomes  more 
and  more  exclusively  a transcript  of  Solinus,  St.  Isidore,  and 
Priscian’s  version  of  the  old  Greek  Periegesis  of  Dionysius. 
Sometimes,  however,  the  copyist  is  roused  to  protest.  The 


1 Die.  vi.  20. 

2 Die.  vi.  37. 

3 Of  the  great  rivers,  Dicuil  reckons 


Euphrates  at  862,  Tigris  at  895. 
Danube  at  923,  Ganges  at  453. 

4 Die.  vi.  38-54. 


VI.]  DICUIL  ON  THE  CALIPH’S  PRESENTS  TO  CHARLES.  325 


statement  of  Julius  Solinus,  in  his  description  of  Germany, 
that  elephants  were  unable  to  lie  down,  though  clearly  stated 
in  authorities  of  such  weight,  could  not  pass.1  For,  says 
Dicuil,  “ the  people  of  the  Frankish  kingdom  certainly  saw 
an  elephant  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Charles,”  when 
Haroun  A1  Rashid 2 sent  the  great  beast  (“  Abu-Lubabah  ”), 
with  his  other  presents,3  to  the  court  of  his  Christian  ally. 
The  arrival  of  these  gifts  was  an  event  too  recent  and  too 
striking  to  be  yet  forgotten ; and  it  is  mentioned  by  several 
of  the  chroniclers.  A Jew  named  Isaac,  one  of  the  envoys 
sent  by  Charles  to  the  caliph,  brought  back  the  elephant 
to  Italy  in  October,  801.  It  passed  the  winter  at  Yercelli, 
and  did  not  attempt  the  passage  of  the  Alps  till  the  summer 
of  802.  In  July  of  that  year  it  arrived  at  Aachen ; for 
eight  years  it  accompanied  the  emperor  in  his  marches  and 
progresses  ; and  in  810  it  died  at  “ Lippia,”  on  an  expedition 
against  the  Danes. 

Again,  Dicuil  disputes  the  statement  that  no  part  of  the 
Nile  flowed  into  the  Red  Sea,  and  relates  the  journey  of 
Fidelis  in  disproof.  A similar  lack  of  faith  is  shown 
(viii.  25)  towards  the  report  of  one  Fabian,  recorded  by 
Pliny,  on  the  depth  of  the  deepest  sea.  He  said,  reported 
Dicuil,  that  it  was  a mile  and  a half  (fifteen  stadia)  to  the 
bottom  of  the  waters — but  who  was  to  believe  that  Fabian 
could  have  sounded  all  the  depths  of  the  ocean  ? 

In  the  same  way,  a little  later,  the  statement  of  Solinus,4 


1 Die.  vii.  35. 

2 Cf.  Burton,  Arab.  Nights,  Ter- 
minal Essay,  iii.  1,  lib.  edit.  viii.  123. 

3JAmong  them  a dog  (“  Becerillo  ”) 
and  a clepsydra,  and  fine  stuffs.  Cf 
Einhardt ; “ Vita  Caroli,”  cc.  16,  23? 
24,  27,  etc. ; “ Monk  of  St.  Gall,” 

752,  761  (Diimmler) ; Annales  Met- 


tenses  ad  ann.  802,  810  ; and  “ Chro- 
niques  de  St.  Denys,”  ii.  1,  6 ; Annal. 
Francor.  Fuldens.  ad  ann.  802 ; 
Fragm.  Annal.  Franc,  [and  Annal 
Tiliani  (Bouquet),  as  cited  in  Le- 
tronne’s  Dicuil,  150-152. 

4 Dicuil,  bk.  ix.  6. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


3 26 


about  the  “ snowy  summit  of  Atlas  hidden  above  the  clouds,” 
is  sharply  criticised.  How  could  the  offspring  lie  behind  its 
source  ? Snow,  falling  as  it  does  from  the  clouds  of  heaven, 
could  be  indeed  a fine  sight,  laughs  Dicuil,  up  above  those 
same  clouds. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  rationalistic  spirit  deserts  him 
sometimes  where  it  might  have  been  more  useful.  He 
repeats  contentedly  enough  the  statement  of  Isidore  1 about 
the  narrow  strait  which  alone  separates  Sardinia  from  the 
“ Land  of  the  Phoenix  ” (Africa  ?)  ; he  raises  no  protest 
against  the  stories  of  the  wolf-men  of  Scythia ; he  seems 
to  fancy  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  must  be  of  the  same  width 
as  those  of  Messina2 — it  was  part  of  the  symmetry  of 
geography  that  Spain  and  Africa,  Italy  and  Sicily,  should 
be  separated  by  a precisely  similar  channel. 

Again,  in  his  last  chapter,  “ On  the  Highest  Mountains,” 
Dicuil  gravely  tells  us  that  Pelion  is  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  base  to  summit,  as  had  been  measured  by  a 
very  learned  man ; 3 and  even  if  allowance  be  made  for  all 
the  detours  of  a winding  path,  along  which  the  reckoning 
may  have  been  taken,  this  must  remain  among  the  curiosities 
of  legend.4  The  height  given  for  the  Alps  is  not  quite  so 
preposterous  : the  compiler  had  read  in  a book  that  he  had 
now  forgotten,  of  an  altitude  of  fifty  miles. 

Lastly,  the  curious  table  of  the  Seven  Chief  Things 5 in 
the  visible  world,  standing  for  all  the  invisible  things  that 
are  not  expressly  mentioned,  is  quite  in  the  same  spirit 
of  studious  credulity  which  had  nearly  as  strong  a hold 


1 Die.  vii.  49.  Die.  viii.  13,  14,  is 
inconsistent  with  this;  so  vi.  28 
clashes  with  vii.  36,  etc.  ( vide  Par- 
tliey’s  preface). 

2 Die.  viii.  18. 

3 Dicsearchus.  See  Pliny,  H.N.  ii. 


65,  which  gives  D.’s  measurement  as 
1250  paces. 

4 Die.  ix.  10,  11. 

5 In  Dicuil  literally,  “Of  the 
Seven  Things  that  follow  in  the 
Cosmography  ” (viii.  26-31). 


VI.]  DICUIL’S  ENUMERATION  OF  NOTABLE  THINGS.  327 


over  Dicuil  as  it  had  over  his  models,  Solinus,  Isidore,  and 
the  rest. 

There  were,  he  declares,  exactly  2 seas,  72  islands,  40 
mountains,  65  provinces,  281  towns,  55  rivers,  and  116 
peoples, — for  so  he  had  read  in  the  “ Cosmography  ” of  Julius 
Caesar  and  Mark  Antony.  Still  more  curious,  perhaps,  is 
his  dependence 1 on  Solinus  for  the  measurements  of  Britain, 
when  from  his  own  knowledge — a knowledge  so  compara- 
tively full  and  original  about  the  coasts  and  islands  of 
Scotland — he  might  have  supplied  a better  account  of  the 
great  island  only  separated  from  him  by  the  “ restless  and 
billowy  ” waters  of  St.  George’s  Channel.2 

Y.  The  Minor  Geographers. 

We  have  now  had  examples  of  all  the  principal  types 
of  Christian  theory  or  science  in  geography  during  this 
time — the  first  six  hundred  years  of  Christian  supremacy. 
The  fabulists,  the  statisticians,  and  the  cosmographers  have 
come  before  us  in  certain  instances  more  completely  than 
we  could  find  elsewhere.  Solinus  and  Cosmas  in  particular 
transcend  all  their  rivals  and  imitators.  It  will  be  con- 
venient, however,  in  this  place  to  supplement  the  testimony 
of  our  principals  by  that  of  their  seconds,  to  improve  our 
understanding  of  the  duel  then  being  fought  out  between 
the  forces  of  free  thought  and  belief.  For  this  purpose  we 
shall  have  to  notice  some  of  the  scientific  references  of 
writers  who  are  not  properly  geographers ; but  who,  in 
attempting  to  make  their  system  of  theology  universal,  were 
obliged,  among  other  things,  to  offer  some  kind  of  answer 
to  the  questions  of  geography.  The  result  of  such  an 
inquiry  will  not  be  very  different  from  the  preceding.  As 

1 Die.  viii.  20.  2 Die.  viii.  22. 


328 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


the  interest  of  the  time  was  turned  away  altogether  from 
observations  of  natural  fact,  we  cannot  expect  more  from 
the  amateur  geography  of  professed  theologians  than  we 
have  already  had  from  the  professional  geography  of  amateur 
divines.  Men  like  Augustine  are  entirely  concerned  with 
human  nature  as  a moral  problem  ; and  so  their  utterances 
upon  physical  questions  bear  little  relation  to  the  ability 
of  the  thinker.  For  these  utterances  of  theirs  are  not 
merely  traditional,  but  represent  a tradition  of  ignorance, 
and  even  of  popular  prejudice  against  scientific  naturalism. 
In  other  words,  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  were  both  un- 
trained in  scientific  method  and  hostile  to  it,  and  with  but 
few  exceptions  declared  for  a cosmography,  not  of  reason, 
but  of  revelation. 

Among  the  earlier  Christian  doctors  three  points  of 
view  may  be  distinguished.  A few,  like  Origen,  tried  to 
reconcile  pagan  and  scriptural  views  by  allegorical  inter- 
pretations of  the  sacred  'text.  A few  others  professed  to 
abstain  altogether  from  profane  discussions.1  But  nearly 
all  the  Fathers  rejected  every  kind  of  compromise;  and 
their  general  view  and  temper  may  be  sufficiently  gathered, 
in  the  first  place,  from  their  language  on  the  fundamental 
question  of  the  Shape  of  our  Earth.  Thus  Lactantius,  as  we 
have  seen  before,  repudiates  the  idea  of  a round  world,  and 
consequent  antipodes,  as  flying  in  the  face  of  the  Bible  and 
reason  alike  (c.  a.d.  300).2  Augustine  and  Isidore  repeat 
his  objections  in  more  measured  language,  like  Chrysostom, 


1 Cf.  John  Philoponus,  “On  the 
Creation  of  the  World,”  iii.  13,  58,79, 
114,  119,  120,  134,  135. 

2 “Divine  Institutions,” iii.  9, 24. Cf. 
also  Santarem,  Essai  sur  Cosm.,i.314, 
315 ; and  Brooke  Montain,  “ Summary 
of  the  W ri  tings  of  Lactantius.”  Philos- 
torgius,  in  his  fifth-century  Ecclesi- 


astical History,  was  said  to  repro- 
duce one  of  the  main  points  of 
Lactantius — the  impossibility  of  con- 
nection between  the  north  and  south 
temperate  zones,  across  the  ocean 
which  separated  them ; but  this  does 
not  appear  in  the  epitome  that 
Photius  has  preserved. 


VI.]  THE  PATRISTIC  VIEWS  OF  THE  UNIVERSE.  329 

Athanasius,  and  Procopius  of  Gaza;  while  Diodorus  of 
Tarsus,  and  Severianus  of  Galaba  anticipate  Cosmas  in  an 
attempt  to  replace  the  spherical  heresies,  which  they  re- 
jected, by  a Christian  system  (c.  a.d.  378-380).1  Again, 
Eusebius  of  Caesarea,  St.  Basil  the  Great,  and  St.  Ambrose, 
like  St.  Augustine,  hold  fast  by  the  literal  interpretation  of 
the  Biblical  Heaven  of  Heavens,  Windows  of  the  Sky,  and 
Waters  above  the  Firmament.2  Basil,  indeed,  challenges 
any  one  to  prove  that  the  double  heaven  of  the  Christians, 
so  ingeniously  arranged  as  a reservoir  for  the  waters,  is  not 
easier  to  believe  than  the  spheres  of  his  pagan  friends,  boxed 
up  one  within  the  other.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  bursts  into 
praise  of  the  Divine  wisdom  which  kept  the  rain  stored  up 
above  the  firmament  for  the  use  of  the  creation ; 3 others 
( e.g . St.  Isidore  and  St.  Basil)  admire  the  forethought  which 
tempered  the  heat  of  the  upper  region  of  ethereal  fire  with 
the  cold  of  these  waters.4  And  just  as  the  theologians 
derived  from  the  Bible  their  constantly  repeated  language 
about  the  plurality  of  the  heavens  and  the  shape  of  the 
world,  so,  from  various  texts  in  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets,, 
they  developed  doctrines  upon  the  movements  of  the  stars, 
and  the  place  of  angels  in  the  government  of  the  universe — 
doctrines  which,  as  we  have  seen,  were  pushed  to  their 
furthest  extreme  by  Cosmas.  The  disciple  was  not  before 


1 Cf.,  for  Diodorus,  in  Photius, 
Biblioth.,  cod.  223;  for  Severianus, 
ibid.,  cods.  59,  96,  231,  232,  and  his 
“ Six  Orations  on  the  Creation  ” in 
Migne,  Pat.  Grsec.  lvi. 

2 Cf.  Euseb.,  Comment,  on  Isaiah 
(Col.  Nov.  Patr.,  ii.  511b);  Basil, 
Hexsem.  Horn.  iii.  3 ; iii.  7 ; Ambrose, 
On  Gen.  ii.  4 : also,  for  classical  sug- 
gestions, Plato,  Rep.,  x.  616 ; Aristo- 
phanes, “ Clouds,”  ver.  372. 

3 Cyril,  Catech.,  ix.  p.  76. 


4  In  his  usual  way,  Origen  tried 
to  explain  away  the  upper  waters 
as  angelic  powers ; but  Augustine,, 
though  conscious  that  the  texts  in 
question,  if  understood  literally,  were 
above  reason  and  experience,  de- 
clared them  to  be  insoluble  and 
necessary  of  belief,  “ since  the  autho- 
rity of  [this]  Scripture  is  greater  than 
the  power  of  all  human  skill  ” (On 
Gen.  ii.  5,  9 ; Works,  iii.  pp.  133-135 
[Ben.  edit.]  ; “ City  of  God,”  xi.  34). 


:330 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Cir. 


his  master ; and  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  in  Theo- 
dore of  Mopsuestia  expressions  on  all  these  points  which 
the  “ Christian  Topography  ” merely  amplifies.  The  great 
Nestorian  teacher 1 dogmatises  with  vigour  on  the  useful 
work  of  the  angels  in  looking  after  the  stars  ; on  the  propor- 
tions of  the  world,  with  its  length  double  of  its  breadth  ; and 
on  the  great  mountains  in  the  North. 

Even  the  famous  comparison  of  the  world  with  a tent  or 
tabernacle,  so  laboriously  worked  out  by  the  monk  of  Alex- 
andria, is  suggested  by  Diodorus  of  Tarsus,2  and  supported 
by  similar  arguments  and  texts.  Once  again,  the  founda- 
tion of  the  earth  on  the  “stability”  of  God,  rather  than 
on  the  equilibrium  of  a sphere,  is  a commonplace  of 
Christian  theology  from  the  third  to  the  thirteenth  century.3 
Those  divines  who  inclined  towards  a compromise  with 
science,  generally  found  it  advisable  to  use  language  to 
disguise  their  meaning;  sometimes  they  were  obliged  to 
retract  and  apologise.  Thus  Eusebius,  in  his  Commentary 
on  Isaiah,  carefully  unsays  what  he  had  admitted  in  an 
earlier  treatise  on  the  Psalms;  and  Photius,  though  one 
of  the  most  enlightened  of  Christian  thinkers,  is  studiously 
vague  when  touching  upon  cosmographical  writers  in  his 
great  Encyclopaedia. 

Compromisers  like  Origen,  and  freethinkers  like  John 
Philoponus,  were  commonly  branded  with  the  name  of 
heretics — a fitting  reward  for  their  disgraceful  indiffer- 
ence to  the  right  number  of  heavens,  or  their  insolent 


1 I.e.  in  his  lost  work,  “ On  the 
Creation,”  as  quoted  and  attacked 
by  John  Philoponus,  “ De  Creatione 
Mundi,”  i.  16,  p.  31 ; 17,  p.  32;  iii. 
10,  pp.  119,  124,  125. 

2 Cf.  Photius,  “ Bibliotheca,”  cod. 


223  (Hcesch.) 

3  Cf.  the  anonymous  “ Quaestiones 
et  Responsiones  ad  Orthodoxos,”  130, 
p.  481a  ; Vincent  of  Beauvais,  vi.  4, 
372c;  and  a fragment  in  the  Bibl. 
Nat.  (Paris),  § 54,  fo.  193. 


VI.]  PATRISTIC  VIEWS  OF  THE  WORLD,  SUN,  STARS,  ETC.  331 


contempt  for  such  cherished  beliefs  as  the  stellar  occupa- 
tions of  the  angels.1 

As  time  went  on,  and  theology  proceeded  further  and 
further  in  systematising  knowledge  under  its  own  terms 
and  concepts,  its  language  on  the  principles  of  geography 
and  astronomy  became,  of  course,  more  definite.  Thus, 
what  St.  Hilary  thought  presumptuous,  St.  Augustine 
approved,  and  Bede  improved.2  The  various  strata  of  the 
atmosphere  were  all  named  and  described  in  fourfold,  five- 
fold, and  sevenfold  divisions,  elaborated  from  the  wildest 
and  most  fanciful  of  the  Neo-platonists.3 

The  primitive  Greek  legends  of  the  sun  passing  behind 
a wall  at  night,  and  so  going  to  his  own  place,4  reappear 
with  the  added  strength  of  Hebrew  hyperbole  in  Severianus 
of  Gabala  and  other  traditionalists,  of  whom  John  the 
Toiler  makes  an  easy  prey.  In  the  same  way,  the  early 
Oriental  conceptions  of  the  earthly  paradise  recur  in  the 
poem  of  St.  Avitus,  “On  the  Creation”  (a.d.  523),  which, 
almost  in  the  language  of  Cosmas,  but  under  the  license  of 
poetry,  describes  how,  beyond  India,  where  meet  the  confines 
of  earth  and  heaven,  lies  that  asylum  from  which  the  first 
of  sinners  was  driven  forth,  placed  among  lofty  mountains, 
inaccessible  to  mortals,  behind  eternal  barriers — the  flaming 
swords  with  which  the  Lord  God  shut  off  all  access  to  the 
tree  of  life. 

And  these  were  only  typical  examples  of  early  Christian 


1 Of.  John  Philoponus,  i.  12,  p.  25 ; 
Origen  against  Celsus,  vi.  p.  289 
(Spenc.) ; Photius,  cod.  36,  p.  9 ; cod. 
223,  p.  362  (Hcesch). 

2 Like  Raban  Maur,  of  Mainz,  in 
the  ninth  century. 

3 _E7.gr.  air,  ether,  Olympus,  the 

heavenly  fire,  the  firmament,  the 
angelic  and  divine  heavens:  cf.  St. 


Augustine  on  Gen.  xii. ; “ City  of  God,” 
vii.  6,  p.  630  ; Basil,  Hex.  Horn.  i.  2 , 
p.  10e,  and  the  excellent  summary 
of  all  these  vagaries  in  Letronne’s 
article,  in  the  Rente  des  Deux  Mondes 
for  March  15, 1834  ; and  in  Marinelli, 
Erdkunde. 

4  Ecclesiastes,  i.  5. 


332 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Cn. 


theorizing  in  the  region  of  geography  and  cosmography. 
The  position  of  the  Garden  of  Eden;  the  habitat  of  the 
people  of  Gog  Magog  and  other  monstrous  races ; and  the 
existence  of  a literal  centre  for  the  earth-circle — were  pro- 
blems which  exercised  the  patristic  mind  only  less  than  the 
great  controversy  upon  the  “ Spherical,”  “ Tabernacular,”  or 
other  shape  of  the  world  itself. 

I.  As  to  the  earthly  Paradise,  the  plain  word  of  Scripture 1 
compelled  most  theologians  to  place  it  in  the  Furthest  East, 
though  a minority  inclined  to  give  a symbolic  meaning  to 
the  crucial  wTords,  “The  Lord  God  planted  a garden  east- 
ward in  Eden,  . . . and  placed  cherubim  at  the  east  of  the 
garden,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life.”  Augustine 
here,  as  elsewhere,  shows  himself  inclined  to  compromise,  as 
well  became  one  who  attempted  such  a task  as  the  re-state- 
ment of  the  whole  Catholic  Faith.  His  knowledge  was  too 
many-sided,  and  his  intelligence  was  too  keen,  for  him  not 
to  perceive  the  importance  of  a certain  liberality  of  temper 
in  a creed  which  aspired  to  conquer  the  world ; and  his  treat- 
ment of  the  question  of  the  terrestrial  Paradise  is  a good 
example  of  his  method.  For  himself,  he  holds  fast  to  the 
real  existence  of  Eden,  and  the  literal  sense  of  Scripture  on 
its  position;  but  he  allows  any  one  who  will,  to  give  the 
texts  at  issue  a symbolical  meaning.2  To  the  same  effect, 
though  more  doubtfully,  speaks  St.  Isidore  of  Seville,  who 
in  so  many  ways  reproduces,  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century, 
the  spirit  and  method  of  the  Bishop  of  Hippo  in  the  fifth. 
In  one  place  the  Spanish  Doctor  repeats  the  traditional 
language  about  Eden,  placed  in  the  East,  blessed  with 
perpetual  summer,  but  shut  off  from  the  approach  of  man 


1 Gen.  ii.  4 ; iii.  24. 

2 De  Civ.  Dei,  xiii.  ch.  21 ; see 
also  Eucherius,  Comm,  on  Genesis 
(Max.  Bibl.  Yet.  Pat.  vi.  874),  and 


A.  Graf’s  interesting  essay  on  the 
“ Legends  of  the  Terrestrial  Para- 
dise” (Turin,  1878). 


V'l.]  PATRISTIC  VIEWS  OF  THE  EARTHLY  PARADISE.  333 


by  the  fiery  wall  which  reached  almost  to  the  Heaven ; yet 
elsewhere  he  seems  to  countenance  a purely  figurative 
sense.1 

The  ordinary  conclusion  of  the  more  philosophic  school 
of  Churchmen  is  perhaps  expressed  by  Moses  Bar-Cepha, 
“Bishop  of  Bethraman  and  Guardian  of  sacred  things  in 
Mozal  ” near  Bagdad,  about  a.d.  900.2  In  his  “ Commentary 
on  Paradise,”  the  ingenious  prelate  solves  past  difficulties  in 
the  spirit  of  Hegel  himself.  The  terrestrial  Eden  had  one 
existence  under  two  conditions,  visible  and  invisible,  corporeal 
and  incorporeal,  sensual  and  intellectual.  As  pertaining  to 
this  world,  it  existed,  he  considers,  in  a land  which  was  on, 
but  not  of,  the  earth  that  we  inhabit.  For  it  lay  on  higher 
ground ; it  breathed  a purer  air ; and  though  many  of  the 
saints  had  fixed  it  in  the  East,  it  was  really  beyond  our  ken. 

From  Augustine  onwards,  through  the  writings  of  Euche- 
rius  of  Lyons,3  of  St.  Basil  the  Great,  and  many  others, 
something  of  this  tendency  to  compromise  between  the 
literal  meaning  of  Scripture  and  the  tacit  opposition  of 
geography,  may  be  traced  in  the  attempt  to  give  reality  to  the 
earthly  Paradise  ; and  the  same  comes  out  in  the  conjecture 
of  Severian  of  Gabala,  adopted  by  Cosmas  and  by  many  of 
the  traditionalists,  that  the  rivers  of  Eden  dived  under  the 
earth  for  a long  space  before  reappearing  in  our  world  as 
Nile,  Euphrates,  Tigris  and  Pison.4 


1 His  scepticism  is  expressed  in 
Xi  De  Differentiis,”  i.  10 ; his  tra- 
ditionalism in  “ Origins,”  xiv.  3 (De 
Asia). 

2 Migne’s  editor  of  “ Moses  ” in  Pat. 

Grsec.  cxi.  cc.  482-608  (1863)  places 
him  later,  about  a.d.  950 ; but  Marinelli, 

Erdkunde  20,  21,  dates  him  about  a.d. 
700,  doubtless  with  the  assent  of  S. 
Gunther  and  L.  Neumann,  who  are 
responsible  for  the  enlarged  German 


edition  of  Marinelli’s  admirable 
essay.  The  most  interesting  passages 
of  Moses’  geography  are  in  part  i. 
chs.  1,  2,  7-9,  11-14. 

3 “ Commentary  on  Genesis.” 

4 Severian  of  Gabala,  “ Oration,” 
v.  6.  According  to  Severian,  this  sub- 
terranean course  was  to  prevent  men 
from  tracking  their  way  up  to  Para- 
dise. Cf.  Philostorgius,  iii.  7-12. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Chl 


Homeric  and  other  pre-Christian  fancies  led  many  in  the 
early  Christian  period  still  to  look  for  Paradise  in  the  North 
among  the  Hyperboreans ; in  the  South  among  the  blameless 
Ethiopians ; or  in  the  West  in  the  Isles  of  the  Blessed,  of 
the  Hesperides,  or  of  Fortune.  Thus  Capella,  who  was 
probably  a pagan  survival  at  the  beginning  of  the  most 
brilliant  age  of  patristic  literature,  naturally  enough  looks 
for  his  Elysium,  “ where  the  axis  of  the  world  is  ever  turn- 
ing ” at  the  Northern  pole  j1  but  when  we  find  Archbishop 
Basil  of  Novgorod  speculating  about  a Paradise  in  the 
White  Sea,2  we  have  a better  illustration  of  the  undying 
vigour  of  the  oldest  and  most  poetic  of  physical  myths,  under 
almost  any  changes  of  politics  and  religion. 

But  it  was  not  enough  to  have  decided  where  the  earthly 
Paradise  was  to  be  looked  for ; devout  inquiry  insisted  on  a 
further  study  of  the  question.  Why  was  the  Garden  of  Eden 
placed  where  Scripture  and  tradition  said  ? To  this  query 
there  were  various  answers.  Because  spices  and  incense 
come  from  the  East,  replied  the  Ravennese  geographer; 
because  light  has  there  its  origin,  said  the  more  ingenious 
Severian.  Man  (to  his  mind)  was  first  placed  by  God  at 
the  extremity  of  the  Orient,  that  he  might  recognise  in  the 
course  of  daylight  a symbol  of  his  life ; and,  in  the  rising 
again  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  a suggestion  of  his  resurrection.3 
On  the  other  hand,  Raban  Maur  of  Mainz,  in  later  time, 
reproduces  the  views  of  the  more  liberal  thinkers ; suggests 
that  the  true  position  of  Eden  was  uncertain ; and  even 
implies  that  the  tradition  of  its  Oriental  site  was  founded 
upon  a misconception  of  the  Hebrew  text. 


1 Capella,  vi.  664. 

2 See  Karamsin’s  “ Russian  His- 
tory,” as  cited  by  Marinelli,  Erdk., 

p.  22,  n.  84 ; and  by  Cardinal  Zurla. 
“ Yantaggi  derivati  alia  Geografia,” 


etc.,  p.  44. 

3  See  the  Ravennese,  pp.  14,  15,  in 
Finder  and  Parthey’s  edition  ; Seve- 
rian, De  Mundi  Creat. ; Raban  Maur, 
“ On  Genesis,”  bk.  i.  ch.  12. 


VI.] 


PATRISTIC  VIEWS  OF  MONSTROUS  RACES. 


335 


II.  Another  fruitful  topic  of  speculation  was  the  being  and 
dwelling-place  of  the  monstrous  peoples  supposed. to  lie  on 
the  outer  edge,  as  it  were,  of  the  habitable  earth.  Among 
these,  the  chief  place  undoubtedly  belongs,  both  in  history 
and  in  legend,  to  the  races  of  Gog  Magog.  For  on  one  side 
they  may  be  said  to  represent  the  Huns  and  other  more 
savage  enemies  of  the  Koman  world ; and  from  another 
point  of  view  they  are  connected  with  the  mythical  achieve- 
ments of  Alexander  the  Great,  with  the  dimly  realised  fact 
of  the  wall  of  China  and  other  Asiatic  barriers  of  civilisation 
against  barbarism,  and  with  many  popular  fancies  as  to  the 
terrors  of  a Last  Day  or  world-collapse. 

To  the  theologians,  the  crucial  facts  about  these  half- 
human vampires  were  recorded  in  three  texts — of  Genesis, 
Ezekiel,  and  the  Apocalypse 1 — which  pictured  their  invasions 
in  times  past  from  the  northern  parts  “ as  a cloud  to  cover 
the  land,”  and  foretold  their  reappearance  when  Satan  should 
be  loosed  from  prison  and  go  forth  to  deceive  the  nations  in 
the  four  quarters  of  the  earth.  From  these  it  was  clear,  by 
the  same  Biblical  interpretation  which  placed  Eden  at  the 
end  of  the  East,  that  Gog  Magog  was  to  be  put  in  the 
extremity  of  the  North.  But  where  precisely  ? Following 
Jewish  tradition,  St.  Jerome  advises  us  to  search  “in  Scythia 
beyond  the  Caucasus,  and  near  the  Caspian  Sea  ” — then 
usually  supposed  to  be  an  inlet  of  the  Arctic  Ocean ; 2 — and 
in  this  conclusion  most  writers  of  the  Patristic  Age  were 
disposed  to  agree.  Some,  however,  attached  a symbolical 


1 Gen.  x.  2 ; Ezek.,  chs.  xxxviii., 
xxxix. ; Apoc.  xx.  8,  9. 

2 Jerome  on  Ezekiel  and  Genesis, 
ad  loc.  cit. ; Augustine,  De  Civ.  Dei, 
xx.  11;  Ambrose,  “ De  Fide  ad  Gra- 
tian,”  ii.  4.  See  F.  Lenormant,  “ Ma- 
gog ” in  the  Museum  of  the  Societe  des 


Lettres  et  des  Sciences,  Louvain,  1882, 
vol.  i.  p.  948,  etc. ; also  Isidore,  “ Ori- 
gins,” ix.  2,xiv.  8;  and  the  commen- 
taries of  Andrew  and  Aretes  of 
Caesarea  on  the  Apocalypse — the  first 
apparently  written  about  400,  the 
second  about  540. 


336 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Oh. 


meaning  to  the  Gog  Magogs,  just  as  to  the  Eden  of  Scrip- 
ture ; and  the  main  interest  of  theological  study  in  this 
direction  was  absorbed  in  considering  who  the  Gog  Magogs 
might  be,  rather  than  in  speculating  as  to  where  they  lived. 
We  see  this  in  the  “Gothic,”  “ Vandalic,”  “Hunnic,”  and 
other  identifications,  not  only  of  Jerome,  but  also  of 
Augustine  (who  on  the  whole  is  disposed  to  take  a figurative 
view),  of  Ambrose,  of  Isidore,  and  of  the  successors  of 
St.  Basil,  Andrew  and  Aretes  of  Caesarea. 

Exact  reference  to  the  words  of  Ezekiel  fixed  the 

princes  of  Gog  and  the  land  of  Magog  ” within  a reason- 
able distance  of  Palestine ; but  the  tendency  of  the  legend 
was  to  move  the  site  steadily  northwards  and  eastwards  as 
the  connection  grew  more  close  with  the  Alexander  of 
Eastern  myth;  with  the  wall  that  he  raised  against  the 
savages  of  Tartary ; and  with  the  altars  which  marked  the 
furthest  point  of  his  advance.  The  fortifications  which 
the  Sassanid  kings  of  Persia  had  raised  in  the  passes  of 
the  Caucasus,  as  when  Chosroes  Nushirvan  strengthened  the 
defences  of  Derbend,  were  naturally  connected  by  a later 
time  with  the  wall  of  Iskander,  and  the  Gog  Magogs  whom 
that  wall  shut  off  in  their  northern  darkness ; and  the  Arabs, 
as  we  shall  see,1  gave  more  definiteness  to  this  popular 
fallacy : but  not  even  in  Arab  literature  do  we  find  a more 
elaborate  treatment  of  these  half  true,  half  fabulous  nomades 
than  in  the  Christian  travel  romance  of  iEthicus  of  Istria ; 
nor  a happier  conjecture  of  their  origin  than  in  the  sugges- 
tion of  Godfrey  of  Viterbo,2  who  identifies  them  with  the 
Lost  Ten  Tribes. 

The  Gog  Magogs  were  the  chief,  but  not  the  only, 

1 As  in  the  Koran,  chs.  15, 18,  etc.,  i volume. 

Massoudy,  etc.  See  pp.  407,  414, 433  2 Though  falling  beyond  our  period 

•of  the  supplementary  chapter  in  this  | in  this  section. 


VI.] 


PATRISTIC  VIEWS  OF  MONSTROUS  RACES.  337 


variety  of  monstrous  people  whom  mediaeval  fancy  adopted 
and  elaborated  from  earlier  mythology.  The  Giants,  the 
Pigmies,  the  Cyclops,  the  Dog-faced  men,  the  Headless, 
Hermaphrodite,  and  other  tribes  of  classical  legend,  received 
the  warm  approval  and  support  of  many  Christian  doctors, 
and  the  qualified  assent  even  of  Augustine,  Bede,  and 
Isidore.  The  latter  is  at  special  pains  to  vindicate  the 
existence  of  portents,  “which  are  not,  as  Varro  said,  things 
against  nature,  because  they  exist  by  Divine  will,  but  are 
only  against  what  has  been  observed  in  nature.”  Jerome  is 
one  of  the  few  theologians  who  has  serious  doubts  on  the 
reality  of  Centaurs  and  similar  delightful  variations  of 
the  common  order ; but  not  even  he  ventures  to  impugn  the 
Phoenix  of  Arabia,  which  held  almost  the  certainty  of  a 
revealed  truth  from  Pope  Clement  to  Albert  the  Great.1 

In  the  ninth  century,  however,  a controversy  broke  out 
between  Ratramm  of  Corbey  and  St.  Rimbert  as  to  the  truth 
or  falsehood  of  the  tale  of  the  dog-headed  race,  and  the 
alleged  descent  of  some  mediaeval  personages  from  this 
people  was  freely  challenged.  The  “ Sciapods,”  or  “ shadow- 
footed ” people  of  the  tropics,  whose  huge  feet  served  them 
for  shade  against  the  sun ; the  “ Antipods  ” of  the  disputed 
southern  continent,  who  grew  all  awry ; the  mouthless  men 
of  Megasthenes ; and  the  “ Indians  who  lived  on  the  smell  of 
fruit,” — races  whom  the  clearer  thinkers  and  more  exact 
students  of  the  classical  period 2 had  rejected  along  with 


1 See  Isidore,  “ Origins  ” (De  Por- 
tentis),  xi.  3,  xii.  2 ; Augustine,  De 
Civ.  Dei,  xvi.  8 ; Jerome,  Comment, 
on  Isaiah  xiv.  4 ; on  Daniel  iv.  1 ; 
“ Life  of  St.  Paul  the  Hermit,”  ch.  6 ; 
and  “Against  Vigilantius;  ” also  Bede, 
on  Apoc.  xxi.  19 ; Orosius,  ii.  14 ; 
“Acta  Sanctor,”  July  25,  p.  146. 

2 See,  for  instance,  Strabo,  ii.  1.  9, 
xvii.  2.  2 ; Lucretius,  De  Rer.  Nat.  iv.; 


Ovid,  Trist.  iv.,  Eleg.  vii.  11,  Meta- 
morph.  xii. ; Lucan,  Pharsal.  iii.  ; 
Pliny,  H.  N.  x.  2 ; vii.  48  (in  spite  of 
his  fabulous  tendency);  and,  more 
strongly,  Xenophon,  Lucian,  Cicero, 
Seneca,  Galen,  and  even  Plutarch. 
Cf.  Leopardi,  “ Errori  popolari  degli 
antiehi,”  pp.  248, 257-259 ; and  Mari- 
nelli,  “ Erdkunde,”  pp.  33-35. 


Z 


338 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


Nymphs,  Centaurs,  and  Cyclops,  started  into  fresh  life  in  the 
writings  and  the  maps  of  the  early  mediaeval  time. 

III.  Once  more,  early  Christian  thought  devoted  itself 
with  extraordinary  zeal  to  the  conception  of  a Middle  Point, 
navel,  or  centre  of  the  earth-surface,  whether  this  surface 
were  considered  as  circular  or  square  in  shape.  Two  texts  of 
Ezekiel  and  two  of  the  Psalms 1 were  supposed  to  prove  that 
Jerusalem,  where  God  had  “worked  salvation  in  the  midst 
of  the  earth,”  was  this  central  point.  “ For  thus  saith  the 
Lord,  This  is  Jerusalem ; I have  set  her  in  the  midst  of  the 
nations  and  countries  that  are  round  about.”  We  have 
already  seen  how  Arculf,  on  his  visit  to  Jerusalem,  soon 
after  the  Moslem  conquest,  was  actually  shown  a column 
which  professed  to  mark  the  umbilical  spot ; tradition  had 
thus,  by  his  time,  already  taken  action,  and  proved  its  case 
by  a monument,  vdiich  itself  became  a starting-point  for  new 
legend ; but  the  tradition  was  far  older  than  Arculf.  It  may 
be  found  in  St.  Jerome’s  “ Commentary  on  Ezekiel  ” of  a.d. 
367  ; in  the  poem  of  the  Pseudo-Tertullian  against  Marcion ; 
in  the  similar  verses  of  St.  Yictorinus  of  Poictiers  “ On  the 
Cross  of  the  Lord ; ” and  in  Eutychius  of  Alexandria,  who 
records  an  obiter  dictum  of  the  Caliph  Omar,  to  the  effect 
that  the  place  where  Jacob’s  ladder  touched  the  earth  was 
clearly  the  central  point.  At  the  beginning  of  Justinian’s 
reign  the  pilgrim  Theodosius  (or  an  editor  of  his  narrative) 
is  content  with  the  more  modest  view  of  Jerusalem  as  only 
“ the  navel  of  all  the  region  ” of  Judea ; while  the  Raven- 
nese  geographer  seems  to  prefer  a secular  middle  point  in 
his  system;  apparently  his  native  place  was  good  enough 
for  him.2  But  the  weight  of  Christian  opinion,  as  time  went 

1 Ezek.  v.  5,  xxxviii.  12 ; Ps.  lxxiv.  j and  other  texts  as  cited  above ; 

(lxxiii.)12;  lxxxv.  (lxxxiv.)  11.  Pseudo-Tertullian  against  Marcion, 

2 See  Jerome  on  Ezek.  v.  5,  etc.,  | ii.  11.  197,  etc.  (“Golgotha  . . . Hie 


VI.] 


PATRISTIC  VIEWS  OF  AN  EARTH  CENTRE.  339 


on,  pronounced  more  and  more  decisively  in  favour  of  Jeru- 
salem ; unlike  many  other  superstitions,  this  one  appeared 
even  to  increase  in  strength  as  the  Middle  Ages  emerged 
into  a higher  culture  ; and  we  shall  see  how  it  gains  an  ever 
stronger  hold  upon  Western  map-making  till  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  retains  some  degree  of  favour  far  into  the 
fifteenth.  Here  we  can  only  point  out  (without  reference 
to  crusading  and  post-crusading  instances x)  that  the  anti- 
scientific  prejudices  of  the  earlier  Church,  between  Con- 
stantine and  Charlemagne,  were  largely  responsible  for 
establishing  and  supporting  one  of  the  most  persistent 
of  mediaeval  misconceptions.  Not  that  it  was  Christian  in 
its  origin.  The  classical  idea  of  Delphi,  the  Hindu  notion 
of*  Mount  Meru  (the  Arabic  Arim),  were  both  older  than  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  helpful  to  them  in  the  way  of 
suggestion ; in  this  case — as  in  the  analogous  superstitions 
of  a Double  or  Manifold  Heaven,  an  Upper  or  Ethereal  Fire, 
a Northern  or  other  Cupola  of  the  Earth,  and  a Ministry  of 
Spirits  as  the  controllers,  movers,  or  even  essences  of  the 
heavenly  bodies — the  patristic  theology  was  not  to  blame  for 
begetting  false  views  of  the  natural  world,  but  only  for 
adopting  and  strengthening  the  more  fanciful  and  unscien- 
tific part  of  the  tradition  that  it  inherited,  while  it  slighted 
and  cast  into  forgetfulness  so  great  a part  of  the  solid 
achievements  of  the  older  physical  inquiry.2 


Medium  Terrse  est,  Hie  est  Victoria 
signum”);  Victorinus,  De  Cruce 
Dom.  v.  1,  etc.  (“  Est  locus  ex  omni 
medium  quern  credimus  orbe  Gol- 
gotha”); Eutychius,  cited  in  Mari- 
nelli,  “ Erdkunde,”  p.  75,  n.  39, 
and  by  Leopardi,  “ Errori,”  p.  207  ; 
also  Theodosius  the  pilgrim  (preface), 
compared  with  Arculf  i.  13.  Mari- 
nelli,  “ Erdkunde,”  p.  74,  argues  for 


Constantinople  as  the  centre  of  the 
Ravennese  geographer ; we  have 
discussed  this  point  on  p.  390. 

1 Such  as  Ssewulfs  account  of 
“Compas”  in  Jerusalem,  a.d.  1102. 

2 Cf.  the  classical  and  other  sug- 
gestions for  the  notions  (1)  of  a mani- 
fold heaven — in  (?  pseudo)  Philolaus, 
who  provided  for  ten  sethereal  spaces  ; 
(2)  of  an  upper  fire — also  in  Philolaus, 


340 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


From  all  this,  it  may  be  seen  whether  the  more  famous 
names  of  the  early  Church  add  much  or  little  to  the 
geographers  we  have  already  examined.  But  besides  these 
scattered  references,  there  are  a few  more  formal  statements, 
less  representative  and  less  important  than  those  of  Dicuil, 
Cosmas,  Solinus,  and  the  Ravennese,  yet  worthy  of  some  closer 
attention.  A few  of  these  are  the  work  of  eminent  men, 
such  as  Isidore;  the  greater  number  have  a more  obscure 
parentage;  but  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  there  is  evident  a 
blending  of  those  three  influences  to  which  we  have  referred, 
as  governing  the  science  or  pseudo-science  of  the  time. 
The  story-teller,  the  measurement-maker,  the  physical 
speculator — these  divide  the  interest  of  the  Christian  world. 

And  among  these  lesser  lights,  our  first  example  is 
Martianus  Capella.  In  the  sixth  book  of  his  “Nuptials 
of  Philology  and  Mercury,”  or  Survey  of  the  Seven  Liberal 
Arts,  under  the  title  of  “ Geometry,”  he  discusses  the  shape 
and  position  of  the  earth,  its  girth  or  circuit,  its  zones  or 
climates,  its  length  and  breadth,  its#  main  divisions,  and 
other  matters  belonging  to  geography. 

Our  apology  for  mentioning  this  at  all  must  be  the  same 
as  in  the  case  of  Solinus.  Its  writer  was  probably  a pagan 
of  the  third  or  fourth  century,  but  his  work  became 
a standard  authority  in  many  places  and  periods  of  the 
Middle  Ages;  it  is  quoted  as  a text-book  by  Gregory  of 


reproduced  in  Severian  of  Gabala, 
De  Creat.  Mundi,  and  in  Marius 
Victor’s  “Poetical  Commentary  on 
Genesis,”  i.  65,  etc. 

“ iEthereis  ne  desint  pabula  flammis, 
Et  nimium  calor  ima  petens  ali- 
menta  sequendo,”  etc.  ; 

(3)  of  an  earth  summit — Aristotle, 
Meteor,  i.  la ; Virgil,  “ Georgies  ” 


(i.  240-243);  Hippocrates,  § 10  of 
“ De  aere  et  aquis,”  reproduced  in  a 
number  of  mediaeval  writers,  espe- 
cially Cosmas,  iEthicus  of  Istria, 
chs.  12,  18,  20,  etc. ; (4)  of  spirits  as 
lighting  up  the  heavens,  or  at  least 
operating  as  princes  of  the  powers 
of  the  air — Varro  in  Augustine,  De 
Civ.  Dei,  vii.  6 ; Appuleius,  “De  Deo 
Socratis.” 


VI.]  MINOR  GEOGRAPHERS  IN  DETAIL— CAPELLA.  341 


Tours  and  John  of  Salisbury,  among  many  others ; and  its 
place  in  the  Hereford  map,  and  similar  productions  of  the 
Dark  Age  school  of  map-makers,  is  of  primary  importance. 

Martianus  Minneius  Felix  Capella  may  be  fairly  sup- 
posed, from  the  internal  evidence  supplied  by  his  own 
writings,  to  have  been  a Latin  lawyer,  resident  at  Carthage 
some  time  before  the  Yandal  invasion  of  a.d.  439,  or 
even  before  the  re-foundation  of  Byzantium  by  Constantine 
(c.  a.d.  330).  It  has  been  conjectured,  but  without  any 
sufficient  proof,1  that  he  lived  and  wrote  in  the  reign  of 
Gordian,  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century.  In  any  case, 
he  shows,  as  we  have  said,  no  trace  of  Christianity,  no  know- 
ledge of  the  new  name  and  dignity  of  Constantinople ; on 
the  other  hand,  he  unquestionably  resembles  Solinus  in 
matter  and  Appuleius  in  style  : and,  without  attempting  to 
fix  his  place  more  precisely,  we  may  take  him  as  represen- 
tative of  the  last  half  century  of  the  pagan  Empire. 

He  begins  his  summary  of  geography  by  defining  the 
form  of  the  earth.  This  he  considers  to  be,  not  flat  or 
concave,  but  round  and  globular,  as  Dicsearchus  had  long 
ago  laid  down.  He  laughs  at  the  notion  of  rain  coming 
down  “ into  the  lap  of  the  land  ” in  anything  more  than  a 
popular  sense ; 2 and  he  quotes  the  evidence  of  astronomers 
like  Eratosthenes,  and  of  travellers  like  Pytheas,  upon 
the  length  of  the  day  in  different  parts  as  proof  of  the 
globular  theory.  The  dimensions  of  the  earth-circle  he 
repeats  from  Eratosthenes  as  25,000  miles.3 

From  this  he  proceeds  to  give  the  customary  divisions 
of  five  zones,  “ of  which  three  are  intemperate  by  an  excess 
of  contrary  qualities.”  Two  are  uninhabitable  from  the  cold, 


1 Cf.  Eyssenhardt’s  preface  (Teub- 
ner  edit.). 

2 Cap.,  yi.  § 590,  etc. 


3  Cap.,  § 596 ; 252,000  stades.  In 
all  this  he  possibly  utilized  the  lost 
work  of  Varro,  on  astronomy. 


342 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch- 


at  the  poles ; one  from  the  heat,  in  the  centre.  On  the  extent 
of  the  habitable  region  known  to  us  in  the  north  temperate 
zone — its  length  and  breadth — he  refers  to  the  authority 
of  Ptolemy  and  of  Pythagoras,  “ most  learned  of  men,”  but 
declares  his  own  knowledge  to  be  quite  as  good  as  theirs,1 
“ for  I,  too,  have  been  over  all  these  (countries),  nor  does  any 
part  of  earth,2  as  I think,  remain  unknown  to  me.”  “ Naviga- 
tion on  every  side,”  satisfactorily  attested,  to  Capella’s  mind, 
the  all-encircling  ocean.  As  to  the  North,  he  wanted  no 
better  proof  than  the  voyage  of  Augustus  Caesar  round 
Germany  to  Scythia.  What  Rome  left  undone  to  the  North 
East,  had  been  accomplished  by  the  Macedonians  of  Seleucus 
and  Antiochus,  who  had  sailed  from  India  into  the  Caspian, 
which,  as  the  belief  of  his  time  required,  Capella  made  into 
a bay  or  gulf  corresponding  to  the  Red  Sea.  Most  of  the 
Southern  Ocean  between  Spain  and  Arabia  had  been 
“ ploughed  ” by  the  victorious  ships  of  Great  Alexander. 
Under  Caligula,  too,  pieces  of  wrecked  vessels  had  been 
drifted  from  Europe,  round  Africa,  to  Asia.  In  much  earlier 
times  Hanno  had  sailed  from  Carthage  to  the  borders  of 
Arabia,  and  this  feat  had  been  repeated  in  later  ages,  as  by 
Eudoxus  in  his  flight  from  Egypt  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules, 
reported  in  Cornelius  Nepos,  and  by  an  unnamed  trader 
mentioned  by  Coelius  Antipater.3 

From  these  interesting  guesses  at  truth  in  unfounded  or 
misconceived  legends,  Capella  goes  on  to  copy  Pliny  and 
Solinus  upon  the  boundaries  of  the  three  great  continents, 
upon  the  Straits  of  Gades  or  Gibraltar,  and  upon  the  Nile 
dividing  Asia  and  Africa,  and  “ intersecting  the  embrace  of 
earth  by  a multitude  of  streams.”  Then  describing  the 


1 Cap.,  §§  602,  603,  609. 

2 One  or  two  references  to  Isidore 

are  interpolated  in  the  text  at  this 


point — on  the  length  of  the  inhabited 
earth,  etc.  Cap.,  §§  616, 617,  618, 621. 
3 Cap.,  §§  619,  620. 


VI.] 


MARTI  ANUS  CAPELLA — MACROBIUS. 


343 


various  provinces  after  the  same  authorities,1  he  repeats, 
though  in  a somewhat  soberer  manner,  many  of  the  favourite 
stories,  such  as  those  which  touched  upon  the  foundation  of 
Lisbon  by  Ulysses  (at  a point  which  Capella  evidently  put, 
like  Solinus,  in  the  position  of  our  Finisterre) ; upon  the 
perpetual  motion  among  the  Hyperboreans  of  the  North, 
“ where  the  axis  of  the  world  is  ever  turning ; ” upon  Mount 
Atlas,  which  “ rises  to  the  confines  of  the  lunar  circle 
beyond  the  power  of  clouds ; ” upon  the  “ Niger  ” in  the 
heart  of  Africa,  “ having  the  same  nature  as  the  Nile;”  upon 
the  “reddening”  fountain  on  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea; 
upon  the  Iron  Beams  barring  the  entrance  of  the  Caspian 
Gates ; upon  the  “ down  ” which  the  silk-merchants  washed 
off  the  trees  of  the  Far  East,  and  of  which  they  make 
their  products ; and  upon  the  marvels  of  India,  where  men 
reached  fabulous  height  and  age,  worshipped  Hercules,  and 
never  slept  by  day.2 

Next  to  Capella,  though  of  far  less  importance,  we  may 
perhaps  take  Macrobius,  who  is  also,  in  all  probability,  a 
pagan,  and  in  particular  a Neo-Platonist,  a figure  in  the 
great  struggle  of  the  early  fifth  century,  when  Christianity 
finally  triumphed  and  Old  Rome  finally  sank,  and  when 
Augustine  and  Orosius  argued  against  the  alleged  con- 
nection of  these  two  facts.  Largely  read  as  he  was  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  his  Commentary  on  Cicero’s  “Dream  of 
Scipio  ” was  an  additional  support  to  the  vulgar  error  of  an 
impassable  torrid  zone3  to  the  south  of  the  known  world. 

regard  both  to  the  sun  and  earth  is 
so  correctly  defined,  that  Copernicus, 
who  quotes  the  “ Nuptials,”  may  have 
gained  some  encouragement  for  his 
theory  from  this  source  (cf.  W.  Ram  • 
say  in  the  Diet.  Grk.  and  Rom.  Biog., 
art.  “ Capella  ”). 

3 Mac.  i.  22. 


1 Cap.,  irom  § < . 

2 Cap.,  §§  664,  667,  673,  677,  691, 
692, 693, 697.  In  another  of  Capella’ s 
sections  (viii.  857),  some  have  supposed 
a suggestion  of  the  solar  system.  “ It 
is  here  so  distinctly  maintained  that 
Mercury  and  Venus  revolve  round 
the  sun,”  and  their  position  with 


344 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


He  repeats  the  ordinary  language  about  an  ocean1  filling 
the  equatorial  zone ; about  the  five  climates ; and  about  a 
possible  southern  world  beyond  the  tropics,  inhabited  by 
beings  unknown  and  inaccessible  to  us.  His  system  has 
been  somewhat  too  positively  compared  2 to  that  of  Cosmas, 
because  of  its  admitting  an  outer  rim  of  land  surrounding 
the  ocean,  which  itself  surrounds  our  earth ; but  this  like- 
ness is  merely  accidental,  arising  from  his  language  about 
the  Antipodean  earth.  In  many  respects  he  is  strictly 
Ptolemaic,  and  declares  for  a round  world,  immovable  in 
the  centre  of  the  universe ; like  Ptolemy,  again,  he  inclines 
to  the  view  that  the  external  sea,  supposed  to  be  of  vast 
extent,  is  really  small : but,  unlike  him,  he  makes  the  same 
terminate  in  every  direction  the  inhabited  earth,  forming 
it  in  the  shape  of  a lozenge,  narrow  at  the  extremities  and 
broader  in  the  middle.  Finally,  he  supports  the  scientific 
tradition  of  terrestrial  gravitation,  by  charmingly  circular 
arguments  of  his  own.  All  bodies  are  drawn  to  the  earth, 
he  tells  us,  because  it  is  immovable  in  the  centre  ; it  is 
immovable,  because  it  occupies  the  lowest  place  in  the 
Universal  Sphere;  and  it  must  occupy  this  place,  because 
all  bodies  are  drawn  towards  it. 

The  treatise  of  St.  Basil  the  Great  of  Caesarea,  on  the 
six  days  of  Creation  (the  Hexaemeron),  has,  of  course,  like 
much  of  Cosmas’  “ Topography,”  only  occasional  reference  to 
geographical  ideas,  properly  so  called ; but  it  is  noteworthy, 
in  spite  of  its  shortcomings,  for  its  comparative  caution 
and  good  sense.  We  have  seen  how,  in  several  instances, 
the  Father  echoes  the  traditional  absurdities  of  the 
“ Scriptural  ” theorists  on  the  shape  of  the  universe.  It  is 
only  fair  to  repeat  more  definitely  in  this  place,  that  Basil’s 


1 Mac.  ii.  9. 


By  Letronne,  R€vue  des  Deux  Mondes , March  15,  1834. 


•VI.] 


ST.  basil’s  hexaemeron. 


345 


attitude  in  general  is  markedly  different  from  that  of  the 
Christian  extremists;  that  he  is  usually  content  with  a 
neutral  tone  towards  the  Ptolemaic  and  other  doctrines  of 
pagan  science ; and  that  the  dogmas  which  he  attacks,  such 
.as  that  of  the  eternity  of  matter,  have  rarely  been  supposed 
till  recent  times  to  be  reconcilable  with  the  religious  belief 
-of  a creation  by  a personal  God.  The  Hexaemeron  is  per- 
haps worthy  of  some  brief  treatment  as  a whole,  if  only  as 
an  antidote  to  Cosmas ; as  a proof  that  the  Christian  Church 
of  the  fourth  century1  contained  men  who  could  speak  and 
write  upon  “ cosmography  ” in  a more  reasonable  spirit ; 
and  as  evidence  of  the  survival  of  many  parts  of  the  old 
science  in  the  new  theology. 

In  the  course  of  these  nine  homilies  upon  the  opening 
-chapters  of  Genesis,  which  together  compose  the  instruction 
delivered  by  Basil  to  his  co-religionists  upon  the  initial 
and  underlying  facts  of  nature,  we  have  first  of  all  a dis- 
cussion on  the  “ Heaven  and  Earth ; ” then  a lengthy  explana- 
tion of  the  firmament,  the  heavenly  bodies  and  their  influences ; 
lastly,  a discussion  of  the  various  forms  of  life  in  the  sea, 
in  the  air,  and  upon  the  land.  Among  other  things,  natural 
history  is  given  us  in  abundant  measure,  mixed,  as  in  Pliny 
or  .ZElian,  with  plenty  of  fable,2  but  showing  at  any  rate 


1 The  date  of  the  Hexaemeron  is 
uncertain,  but  it  must  have  been 
■between  a.d.  350  and  379.  It  was 
translated  into  Latin  by  Eustathius 
Afer  (c.  a.d.  440),  and  was  imitated 
both  in  style  and  matter  by  Ambrose, 
and  by  the  English  JSlfric,  abbot  of 

St.  Albans,  a.d.  969.  There  are  many 
useful  notes  in  the  recent  edition  of 
the  “Nicene  and  post-Nicene  Fathers,” 
vol.  viii.  (1895).  See  also  Fialon 
*(“  Etude  sur  St.  Basile  ”),  who  has 
worked  out  especially  the  connection 


of  the  Hexaemeron  with  Aristotle, 
and  above  all  with  the  “Meteoro- 
logica  ” and  the  “ He  Cselo.” 

2 As  in  the  story  of  the  viper  and 
the  sea-lamprey  in  Horn.  vii.  5, 
borrowed  from  iElian,  Hist.  An.,  ix. 
66,  but  contradicted  by  Athenseus, 
vii.  p.  312.  “ The  viper,  cruelest  of 

reptiles,  unites  itself  to  the  sea- 
lamprey,  and  announcing  its  presence 
by  a hiss,  calls  it  from  the  depths 
to  conjugal  union.”  The  application 
of  the  story  is  also  noteworthy : 


346 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


a remarkable  book-knowledge  of  birds,  beasts,  and  reptiles. 
Just  in  the  same  way  Basil  is  well  acquainted  with  older  in- 
quiries on  the  shape  of  the  world,  and  its  component  parts  ; 
and  with  many  details  of  geography  in  the  strict  sense  of 
that  word.  Thus  the  Greek  conception  of  an  order  or  law 
of  nature  is  present  to  his  mind  along  with  his  belief  in  the 
personal  action  of  a Creator ; and  by  many  an  instance  he 
shows  his  knowledge  of,  and  interest  in,  the  past  discoveries 
of  physical  science.  True,  he  never  does  more  than  repeat 
in  these  matters;  but  his  profession  was  theology,  and  for 
his  purpose  it  was  enough  to  reproduce  the  best  authorities 
with  discrimination  and  respect.  We  do  not  gather  from 
him,  as  from  some  other  theologians,  that  the  study  of  nature 
in  itself  was  an  accursed  thing,  or  that  the  Greek  physicists 
were  only  in  pursuit  of  “ laborious  vanity.”  He  refuses  to 
commit  himself  for  or  against  the  Ptolemaic  astronomy ; he 
declines  to  enter  into  the  difficulties  of  the  world’s  support 
in  space,  of  the  balance  of  the  four  elements,  and  so  forth ; 
and  after  summarising  the  opinions  of  “ fine  speakers,”  and 
especially  of  Aristotle,  he  concludes  with  a natural  turn  of 
pulpit  oratory,1  “ If  anything  in  this  system  appears  probable 
to  you,  keep  your  admiration  for  the  source  of  such  perfect 
order,  for  the  Wisdom  of  God.”  2 

Dared  Basil  admit  the  roundness  of  the  earth  and  the 
existence  of  antipodes  ? Here,  again,  his  habitual  caution 
makes  an  answer  somewhat  doubtful.  He  refers  3 to  the  stars 

“ However  hard  and  fierce  a husband  2 Again,  “ Whether  we  say  that  the 
may  be,  the  wife  should  hear  with  ; earth  rests  upon  itself  or  rides  upon 
him.  ...  He  strikes  you,  but  he  is  ! the  waters,  we  must  still  recognise 
your  husband.  He  is  a drunkard,  ! that  all  is  sustained  by  the  Creator’s 
but  he  is  united  to  you  by  nature,  j power.  Let  us  not  disquiet  ourselves 
He  is  brutal,  but  he  is  henceforth  one  | about  essence,  but  say  with  Moses, 
of  your  members,  and  the  most  precious  I ‘ God  created.’  ” 
of  all.”  | 3 Horn.  i.  4. 

1 Hex.,  horn.  i.  10. 


VI.] 


ST.  BASIL’S  HEXAEMERON. 


347 


of  “the  Southern  pole,  visible  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
South,  though  unknown  to  us ; ” but  Roman  traders  on  the 
East  African  coast  had  long  since  come  in  sight  of  some  of 
these,  and  Basil’s  language  is  far  from  being  a definite 
acknowledgment  of  antipodean  lands  or  peoples. 

As  to  the  shape  of  the  world,  he  only  quotes  the  con- 
flicting views  of  the  learned  without  expressing  any  pre- 
ference of  his  own;  and  ends  by  contrasting  the  doubtful 
wisdom  of  the  sages  with  the  more  sure  oracles  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.1  He  does  this,  however,  with  no  little  skill  and 
display  of  knowledge.  “Whether  the  earth  be  spherical 
or  cylindrical,  whether  it  resemble  a dish  equally  rounded 
in  all  parts,  or  whether  it  has  the  form  of  a winnowing 
basket,  and  is  hollow  in  the  middle, — all  these  conjectures 
have  been  hazarded,  each  one  upsetting  the  former.  Yet 
Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  is  silent  as  to  shapes ; he  has  not 
said  that  the  earth  is  180,000  furlongs  in  circumference ; he 
has  not  measured  into  what  extent  of  air  its  shadow  projects 
itself,  while  the  sun  revolves  around  it ; nor  stated  how  this 
shadow,  when  cast  upon  the  moon,  is  the  cause  of  eclipses. 
He  has  passed  over  in  silence  all  that  is  unimportant  for  us 
to  learn.  Shall  we  not  rather  exalt  Him  who,  not  wishing  to 
fill  our  minds  with  these  vanities,  has  regulated  the  economy 
of  Scripture  with  a view  to  the  perfection  of  our  souls  ? ” 

As  to  the  number  of  heavens,  Basil  is  unusually  literal. 
He  ridicules  the  philosophical  “ pretence  ” of  one  all- 
including  sky,  and  declares  that,  far  from  not  believing  in  a 
second,  he  was  anxious  to  discover  “ the  third,  whereon  the 
blessed  Paul  was  found  worthy  to  gaze.” 2 He  is  equally 
firm  as  to  the  waters  above  the  firmament,  provided  expressly 
by  the  Creator,  as  he  conceives,  to  prevent  the  dissolution 
of  the  universe  by  fire.  “ For  the  same  account  was  water 
1 Hex.,  hom.  ix.  1 ; see  also  i.  11.  3 Horn.  iii.  3. 


348 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Cii. 


spread  over  the  land,  and  dispersed  in  the  depths  of  the 
earth,  in  fountains,  springs,  and  rivers” — which  last  Basil 
now  proceeds  to  enumerate.1  “ From  the  winter  solstice  in 
the  east  flows  the  Indus,  greatest  of  streams,  as  our  geo- 
graphers teach;  from  the  middle  of  the  east  proceed  the 
Bactrus  (Oxus)  and  the  Araxes,  from  which  the  river  Tanais  2 
falls  into  the  Maeotid  Marsh  (Sea  of  Azov).”  From  Mount 
Caucasus  came  the  Phasis ; from  the  north  countless  other 
rivers  flowed  into  the  Euxine  Sea.  From  the  Pyrenees, 
in  the  warm  countries  of  the  west,  rose  Tartessus  and  Ister 
(Guadalquivir  and  Danube) ; the  Phone  watered  the  land 
of  the  Gauls ; the  Nile,  and  others,  flowed  through  Ethiopia 
from  the  higher  regions  of  the  south — thanks  to  Him  who 
ordered  all  to  prevent  the  victory  of  fire  before  its  time.3 

Those  who  had  “ travelled  round  the  earth  ” affirmed 


that  there  was  only  one  sea,  into  which  the  Caspian , the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Arabian  gulfs  all  discharged  them- 
selves, and  Basil,  after  his  manner,  repeats  the  established 
belief 4 without  criticism,  except  to  mention  the  opinion  of 
a minority  in  the  lakelike  character  of  the  Caspian.  With 
the  same  deference,  he  alludes  to  the  current  misbelief  in  the 


depression  of  Egypt  below  the  level  of  the  Red  Sea — “ for 
experience  has  convinced  us  of  this,  every  time  that  men 
have  tried  to  join  the  sea  of  Egypt  with  the  Indian  Ocean.” 5 
So  complacently  did  the  fourth  century  acquiesce  in  the 


1 Mainly  from  Aristotle,  Met.  i.  13. 

2 Possibly  the  Araxes  and  Tanais 
are  the  Volga  and  Don  in  this  con- 
nection. 

3 Hex.,  hom.  iii.  5,  6. 

4 Hom.  iv.  4 ; as  in  Pliny,  H.  N. 

vi.  15 ; Strabo,  xi.  507.  Basil  (Hex., 
hom.  iv.  6,  7)  deals  very  ably  with 
the  subject  of  the  benefits  conferred 
by  the  ocean  on  the  land,  and  al- 
ludes to  a curious  anticipation  of 


a modern  invention : “ Sailors  boil 
even  salt  water,  collecting  the  vapour 
in  sponges  to  quench  their  thirst  in 
pressing  need.”  In  Nelson’s  time 
the  extracting  of  fresh  water  from 
salt  was  talked  of  as  if  quite  a new 
discovery. 

5  Hex.,  hom.  iv.  3.  See  Arist., 
Meteor,  i.  14;  Pliny,  H.  N.  vi.  33; 
Herod,  ii.  158 ; Strab.  xvii.  804. 


VI.] 


ST.  BASIL’S  hexaemekon. 


349’ 


denial  of  what  the  second  had  seen  accomplished,  or  rather 
repeated,  and  which  the  seventh  was  again  to  see  performed. 

Basil  was  thoroughly  well  read  in  the  differences  of 
zones  or  climates  as  marked  by  the  course  of  the  sun,  the 
length  of  daylight,  and  so  forth.  “ It  is  winter  with  us, 
when  the  sun  sojourns  in  the  south,  and  lengthens  the 
shades  of  night  in  our  regions.1  When,  returning  from  the 
southern  parts,  the  sun  is  in  mid  heaven,  and  divides  day 
and  night  in  equal  parts,  a mild  temperature  returns ; thence 
the  sun,  proceeding  to  the  north,  gives  us  the  longest  days, 
when  the  shadows  are  shortest.  Thus  it  is  with  us  in  the 
north  of  the  earth,  whose  shadow  is  always  on  one  side  [who 
throw  a shadow  only  one  way  at  noon  throughout  the  year]  ; 
bat  those  who  live  beyond  the  Land  of  Spices  see  their 
shadows  now  on  one  side,  now  on  another,  and  in  one  part 
of  the  world  there  is  no  shadow  at  all  at  midday  for  two  days 
in  the  year ; for  the  sun  is  there  so  directly  overhead,  that  it 
could  through  a narrow  opening  shine  to  the  bottom  of  a well.” 

In  striking  contrast  to  Cosmas,  who  conceives  the  sun 
as  about  forty  miles  across,  and  little  more  than  four  thou- 
sand miles  from  the  earth,  Basil  insists  on  regarding  it,  like 
the  moon,  as  Iff  ^prodigious  size,  for  “the  whole  extent  of 
heaven  cannot  make  it  appear  greater  in  one  place  and 
smaller  in  another;  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth, 
from  India  to  Britain,  see  it  of  the  same  size.2  Judge  not 
according  to  the  appearance,”  he  continues,  “ nor  imagine 
that  because  it  looks  to  be  but  the  breadth  of  a cubit,  it  is 
in  reality  no  larger.”  Could  a modern  have  reproduced 
more  neatly  the  argument  of  the  early  physicists  ? In  tho 
same  spirit  Basil  accepts  that  influence  of  the  moon  upon 
the  tides  3 which,  ever  since  Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  in  the 

1 Hex.,  hom.  vi.  8.  Tlepl  ape<ric,  iii.  17,  who  definitely 

2 Hom.  vi.  8,  9.  traces  the  doctrine  to  Pytheas. 

3 See  Pliny,  H.  N.  ii.  99 ; Plntareh, 


350 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


days  of  Alexander  the  Great,  had  been  more  or  less  clearly 
recognized  by  ancient  science.  “For  as  to  the  Western 
Sea,  it  now  returns  to  its  bed,  and  now  overflows,  as  the 
moon  draws  it  back  and  urges  it  forth  by  its  respiration.”  1 
The  result  of  these  and  similar  instances,  skilfully  converted 
by  the  saint  into  so  many  supports  of  Scripture  (though 
other  theologians,  both  before  and  after,  saw  in  them  only 
so  many  suggestions  of  atheism),  is  to  bring  Basil’s  mind  to 
some  perception  of  the  fallibility  of  unaided  and  uncorrected 
sense.  Thus  “ our  power  of  sight  is  small,  and  makes  all 
that  we  see  seem  small,  affecting  what  it  sees  by  its  own 
condition.  But  when  sight  is  mistaken,2  its  testimony  is 
also  misleading.”  Yet  science  has  had  no  harder  struggle 
than  to  persuade  the  world  of  this  very  fact ; and  mankind 
will  more  readily  credit  almost  anything  against  reason, 
rather  than  a truth  which  is  so  above  the  ordinary  reason 
as  that  of  the  delusive,  partial,  and  surface  character  of 
sensuous  perception.3 

W orks  like  the  Hexaemeron,  commentaries  on  the  Biblical 
story  of  Creation,  were  the  staple  of  Patristic  cosmography. 
It  is  probable  (we  have  seen)  that  the  chief  stimulus  of 
Cosmas,  in  his  anti-spherical  and  other  theories,  was  a 
similar  treatise  of  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,4  the  Augustine 
of  the  Nestorian  Church;  but  as  his  scientific  writings 


1 Hex.,  hom.  vi.  11. 

2 Hom.  vi.  9. 

3 The  zoology  with  which  the 
Hexaemeron  concludes,  must  not  be 
spoken  of  here,  although  it  is  a fairly 
good  copy  of  Pliny’s,  and  touches 
occasionally  on  geographical  notions, 
as  in  its  excellent  account  of  migratory 
birds,  fish,  and  animals ; but  we  may 
perhaps  notice  Basil’s  treatment  of 
the  silk  worm,  or  “ horned  worm  of 

India  ” (Hex.,  hom.  viii.  8),  which 


“ turns  from  a caterpillar  into  a 
buzzing  insect,”  and  provides  the 
silk  sent  by  the  Chinese  for  the 
“ delicate  dresses  ” of  Roman  women. 
It  would  be  unfair  to  Basil  to  accuse 
him  of  confusing  China  and  India  in 
this  passage,  but  the  sentence  is  a 
good  example  of  the  loose  way  in 
which  Greek  and  Latin  writers  often 
speak  of  the  Further  East. 

4  Probably  written  c.  a.d.  370. 


VI.] 


SEVERIANUS  OF  GABALA. 


351 


have  been  lost,  we  can  only  conjecture,  from  the  allusions  of 
Photius  and  John  Philoponus,  that  such  was  the  case. 
Happily,  or  unhappily,  we  possess  in  other  writers— who 
were  possibly  disciples  of  Theodore — some  remarkably  close 
anticipations  of  the  method  and  the  conclusions  of  the 
■“  Christian  Topography ; ” and  of  these  the  best  specimens 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Six  Orations  of  Severian  of  Gabala1 
(already  alluded  to),  on  the  creation  of  the  world ; and 
in  the  fragments  preserved  by  Photius  from  the  lost  but 
contemporary  work  of  Diodore  of  Tarsus,  “Against  Fate,” 
or  Fatalistic  Ideas.  As  to  the  former  analogy,  the  like- 
ness is  marked.  In  several  respects  Cosmas  and  Severian 
employ  almost  the  same  expressions.  In  both,  the  universe 
is  like  a house  or  box,  divided  by  the  floor  of  the  firma- 
ment, and  arched  by  the  roof  of  the  heaven  of  heavens ; 
in  both,  the  Waters  above  the  Firmament  play  an  impor- 
tant part ; in  both,  the  world  is  expressly  compared  to  a 
tabernacle;  in  both,  the  spherical  theory  of  the  earth  is 
denounced  with  the  same  ludicrous  vehemence,  and  refuted 
by  a misuse  of  the  same  texts.2  But  Severian’s  treatment 
of  these  matters  is  merely  allusive  and  occasional,  while 
Cosmas  undertakes  an  exhaustive  exposition  of  the  anti- 
spherical  view.  The  Bishop  of  Gabala,  moreover,  indulges 
now  and  then  in  speculations  which  the  monk  of  Alexandria 
does  not  always  reproduce,  as  when  he  points  out  the  true 
use  of  the  Upper  Waters  ; which  were  not  to  sail  on  or  to 
drink,  but  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  the  world  by  the 
fiery  luminaries  of  heaven,  till  that  End  of  all  Things,  when 
they  would  be  serviceable  in  extinguishing  sun,  moon,  and 
stars.  For  these  last,  to  his  mind,  are  just  so  many  furnaces  ; 


1 Of  about  a.d.  378-380. 

2 E.  g.  “ The  sun  came  forth  [did 
not  “ rise,”  as  it  must  over  a spherical 


earth],  and  Lot  entered  into  Segor ; ” 
but  of  course  Cosmas  uses  many  more 
texts  than  Severian. 


352 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


and,  as  he  naively  puts  it,  like  other  fires,  they  would  in  the 
natural  order  throw  their  heat  and  light  upwards  and  away 
from  us,  were  they  not  controlled  by  special  Providence  so 
as  to  cast  down  their  rays  for  our  benefit.  A more  striking 
difference  is  shown  in  Severian’s  explanation  of  the  course  of 
the  sun,  and  the  varying  length  of  day  and  night.  Unlike 
Cosmas,  he  does  not  make  this  depend  entirely  on  the 
northern  mountain;  although  the  latter  is  a part-cause  of 
darkness  in  his  system.  On  the  contrary,  he  conceives  of 
the  sun  as  really  encircling  the  earth ; but  in  winter  it  slips 
out  of  sight,  according  to  him,  at  the  south-west  corner  of 
our  world,  or  of  the  Oblong  which  serves  him  for  the  earth- 
surface  ; 1 and  so  omitting  part  of  its  full  day’s  journey,  it 
has  all  the  more  to  do  in  the  night,  on  the  west,  north,  and 
north-east  of  the  Parallelogram. 

Somewhat  peculiar  in  its  nature  is  the  attack  of  Diodore 
of  Tarsus  (c.  a.d.  394)  upon  the  doctrines  of  a round  world 
and  a spherical  universe.  In  such  teaching  he  discerns  the 
lurking  heresy  of  atheistic  fatalism ; and  one  who  began  by 
believing  in  the  Ptolemaic  system  would  end,  he  thinks, 
by  denying  G-od  His  place  as  the  Creator.  As  to  the  rest,  it 
is  enough  to  notice,  on  the  one  hand,  his  assumption,  in  the 
manner  of  Lactantius,  that  the  torrid  zone  was  uninhabitable 
and  impassable  ; and,  on  the  other  hand,  his  positive  language 
in  favour  of  the  Tabernacle  theory : “ Two  heavens  there 
are,  one  visible,  the  other  invisible;  one  below,  the  other 
above : the  latter  serves  as  roof  to  the  universe,  the  former 
as  covering  to  our  earth — not  round  or  spherical,  but  in  the 
form  of  a tent  or  arch.” 2 

1 See  Severian,  Orat.  i.  sects.  4, 5 ; [ Montfaucon’s  text  and  notes  are  re- 
Orat.  ii.  sects.  3,  4 (firmament,  etc.) ; printed  in  Migne,  Pat.  Grsec.  lvi. 
Orat.  iii.  sects.  2,  4,  5 (anti-spherical,  cc.  430-500. 

quoted  elsewhere,  p.  275) ; also,  on  2 The  fragments  “Against  Fate,”  as 
the  rivers  of  Paradise,  see  Orat.  v.  6.  j here  quoted,  are  in  Photius,  “ Biblio- 


VI.] 


DIODORUS  OF  TARSUS— OROSIUS. 


353 


Next,  perhaps,  among  those  Christian  geographers  who 
gave  anything  like  a formal  treatment  to  the  subject  as  a 
whole,  comes  Orosins,  whom  we  have  met  with  already 
among  Latin  travellers  to  the  Levant.  In  his  work  as  a 
disciple  and  interpreter  of  St.  Augustine,  he  wrote  his 
“ Universal  History  ” in  the  way  of  supplement  to  the  more 
abstract  treatise  of  his  master,  “ On  the  City  of  God.”  Both 
works  were  drawn  up  within  a short  time  after  Alaric’s 
capture  of  Borne,  and  both  had  the  same  object.  They 
aimed  at  proving  that  Christianity  was  not  responsible  for 
recent  calamities;  that  equal  and  even  greater  misfortunes 
had  befallen  the  empire  in  pagan  times ; and  that  the  new 
religion  had  not  weakened  but  rather  revived  the  strength 
of  every  country  where  it  had  been  accepted.  Orosius’ 
“ History  against  the  Pagans  ” was,  therefore,  as  a contro- 
versial tract,  radically  unhistorical  in  character,  but  its 
treatment  was  far  better  than  its  title ; and  in  the  second 
chapter  of  the  first  book  the  author  inserted  a short  account 
of  the  nations  and  districts  of  the  earth,  which  had  at  least 
the  merits  of  being  lucid,  judicious,  and  fairly  well  informed. 
It  was  also  for  the  most  part  independent  both  of  Pliny 
and  of  Ptolemy ; and  was  possibly  based  to  a large  extent 
upon  earlier  sources,  such  as  Strabo,  while  its  definitions 
were  sometimes  original.  Here,  for  instance,  we  find  the 
earliest  known  use  of  Asia  Minor  in  our  sense;  a peculiar 
account  of  the  rise  of  the  Nile  near  the  mouth  of  the  Red 
Sea ; and  an  odd  exaggeration  of  the  Isle  of  Man  into  a 
sort  of  rival  of  Britain  and  Ireland.1  The  mouth  of  the 


theca,”  cod.  223;  in  Migne,  Pat. 
Grsec.  ciii.,  esp.  cc.  838,  871.  Diodore 
also  wrote  on  the  Creation  in  the 
course  of  a Biblical  Commentary  (his 
fragments  on  Genesis  are  in  Migne, 
Pat.  Grsec.  xxxiii.  cc.  1562-80),  but 


there  is  nothing  geographical  in  this. 

1 Cf.  Mevania  in  Bede,  H.  E.  ii.  5. 
Monapia  (Men-)  in  Pliny,  H.N.  iv.  16, 
103.  See  Bunbury,  Anc.  Geog.  ii. 
691,  etc. 

2 A 


354 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Oh. 


Ganges  he  definitely  places,  after  the  common  prejudice,  in 
the  midst  of  the  eastern  front  of  Asia.  Africa  he  terminates, 
like  nearly  every  one  in  his  day,  at  about  the  latitude  of  the 
Canaries ; and  he  conceives  of  the  whole  continent  as  long 
and  narrow,  squeezed  closely  between  the  Mediterranean  and 
the  ocean  on  the  north  and  south. 

Orosius,  like  his  teachers,  plants  terra  firma  in  the  centre 
of  the  ocean,  and  divides  it  under  the  three  customary  heads. 
Of  these,  Asia  is  first  described,  in  order  of  its  countries,  start  - 
ing  from  India  as  next  to  the  sun-rising,  and  moving  steadily 
west,  without  anything  remarkable  in  statement ; except  that 
happy  Arabia  is  said  to  “stretch  towards  the  east  in  a 
narrow  tract  ” between  the  Persian  and  Arabian  Gulfs ; that 
the  Lesser  Asia  of  the  peninsula  is  now  expressly  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Greater  Asia  of  the  continent ; and  that 
the  Caspian  is,  as  usual,  made  an  inlet  of  the  Northern  Ocean, 
with  long  winding  and  barren  shores  ending  at  the  “ roots 
of  Caucasus.” 1 In  Europe  the  compiler  is  even  more  unim- 
peachable— although  referring  to  Spain,  Italy,  and  Gaul  as  if 
in  some  way  between  the  Danube  and  Mediterranean;  bringing 
the  British  Islands,  and  especially  Ireland,  too  close  to  the 
Spanish  coast;  and  exaggerating  the  size  of  Man2  in  the 
curiously  mistaken  way  to  which  we  have  just  referred.  In 
his  third  and  last  division,  Orosius  deals  with  Africa,  the 
chief  island  of  the  world,  and  the  proper  number  of  con- 
tinents. It  is  in  these  concluding  sentences  that  we  have 
his  famous  apology  for  regarding  Africa  as  a continent  to 
itself,3  rather  than  grouping  it  with  Europe  to  make  a set-off 
against  the  overshadowing  bulk  of  Asia.  For  one  mistake* 
is  balanced  by  another.  If  Africa  is  understated,  Europe  is 
over-estimated.  Its  extent  towards  the  north-east  is  greatly, 

1 Cf.  Oro.  I.  ii.  15 ; I.  ii.  21  ; and 
I.  ii.  48. 


2 Oro.  I.  ii.  55-74 

3 Oro.  I.  ii.  84. 


VI.] 


OROSIUS — iETHICUS  OF  ISTRIA. 


355 


though  vaguely,  magnified,  but  in  the  same  misty  language 
in  which  the  upper  course  of  the  Nile  is  described, — first  in 
the  manner  of  the  Plinian  school  from  Mount  Atlas,  then  (by 
a possible  confusion  with  the  Blue  Nile  of  Abyssinia)  from 
Mossylon  1 harbour,  near  the  straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb. 

A sketch  of  universal  geography,  similar  to  that  of  the 
Ravennese  “ Anonymous,”  is  next  to  be  found  in  the  tract  of 
Julius  AEthicus,  part  of  which  is  almost  verbally  identical 
with  another  compilation — the  “ Libel  ” of  Julius  Honorius.2 

With  this  treatise  of  one  iEthicus  has  often  been  con- 
fused a very  different  and  probably  later  treatise,  the 
cosmography  of  AEthicus  of  Istria;  which  professes  to  be 
translated  by  a priest  named  Jerome  from  a Greek  original ; 
which  ha  saroused,  like  the  “ Catalogue  Geography  ” of  Julius 
AEthicus,  a surprising  degree  of  literary  interest ; and  which, 
in  its  present  form,  seems  to  be  of  the  seventh  century.  It 
will,  perhaps,  be  useful  to  examine  it  a little  more  in 
detail. 

Shadowy  as  is  the  alleged  existence  of  this  “ philosopher ; ” 
and  doubtful  as  is  the  ascription  to  this  Grseco-Scythian 
Mandeville  of  either  of  the  works  which  pass  under  his 
proper  name,  and  enjoyed  so  great  a popularity  in  the 
Middle  Ages — we  have  at  any  rate  in  the  production  of 
Jerome  the  Priest,  an  apparently  original  work  of  the  early 
Christian  period.  As  it  stands,  this  Cosmography  of 
iEthicus  of  Istria  is  one  of  the  longest,  one  of  the  wildest, 
and  certainly  the  most  obscure  and  enigmatical  among  early 
Christian  geographical  monuments.  The  Presbyter  who 
undertakes  to  abridge  and  elucidate,  and  who  complains  so 


1 It  has  been  suggested  that 
Mossylon  is  confused  with  the  Massyli 
and  Masssesyli  of  Numidia,  tribes 

among  whom  Juba  supposed  the 
Nile  to  rise.  Cf.  Pliny,  v.  9, 52  ; and 


Solinus,  c.  lvi.,  who  mentions  the 
Massylic  promontory.  Oro.  I.  ii.  28. 

2 Cf.  Cassiodorus,  De  Inst.  Div. 
Script.,  c.  25. 


356 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Oh. 


frequently  of  the  difficulties  of  his  text,  is  himself  the  worst 
offender.  Incessantly  interrupting  his  original,  real  or 
pretended,  by  tirades  and  reflections  of  his  own,  he  rarely 
fails  to  make  confusion  worse  confounded ; and  many  sections 
of  the  book  in  its  present  state  are  absolutely  unintelligible. 
Obviously  anxious  to  identify  himself  with  St.  Jerome,  he 
bears  in  himself  a sufficient  refutation.  He  is  really  a 
copyist  of  Isidore  1 and  other  encyclopaedists.  The  narrative 
is  occupied  with  the  journeys  of  .ZEthicus  by  sea  and  land, 
with  his  observations  on  the  products  of  the  earth  and  the 
men  of  different  nations,  and  with  his  trading  ventures. 
Himself  a Christian  neophyte,  the  Istrian  was  moreover  so 
illustrious  a philosopher,  that  his  native  land  had  become  the 
seat  of  the  learning  that  had  fled  from  Athens.  Whether 
his  reputation  was  well-founded,  may  be  seen  from  the 
contents  of  the  present  treatise.  Herein  he  discourses  on  the 
fabric  of  the  world ; on  unformed  matter,  Paradise,  the  earth, 
sea,  and  sky  ; on  the  fall  of  Satan,  and  on  the  Angels ; on 
the  table  of  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars ; on  the  portals 
of  the  heaven  and  the  hinges  of  the  world ; and  on  all  the 
various  lands  and  seas  of  the  inhabited  and  habitable 
earth.  In  his  more  detailed  descriptions,  he  evidently 
prides  himself  especially  upon  his  treatment  of  the  races 
which  the  Old  Testament  leaves  unmentioned,  and  of  certain 
matters  not  treated  in  any  other  writings ; and  it  is  on  these 
points  where  few  had  specialised,  and  where  his  authority 
was  of  all  the  more  weight,  that  his  credit  was  naturally 
most  firmly  established.  Thus  Roger  Bacon,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  quotes  “ iEthicus  the  Astronomer  ” on  some  of  the 


1 He  was  well  acquainted  with 
Jerome’s  life  and  works ; and  copies 
from  the  latter  names,  allusions,  and 
expressions,  such  as  the  famous  pas- 
sage from  letter  103  (no.  53  in  Migne), 


about  Hiarchas  living  among  the 
Brahmins,  sitting  on  a golden  throne, 
drinking  of  the  Fount  of  Tantalus,  and 
instructing  his  disciples  on  nature  and 
on  the  courses  of  the  stars  (ch.  17). 


iETHICUS  OF  ISTRIA. 


357 


VI.] 

more  recondite  details  connected  with  Alexander,  with  the 
Amazons,  and  with  the  Gog-Magogs ; and  Walter  Ealeigh, 
in  the  sixteenth,  repeats  the  testimony  of  “that  ancient 
iEthicus  ” on  the  locality  of  Eden,1  backed  as  it  was  by 
the  weighty  affirmation  of  St.  Jerome,  who,  as  translator 
and  editor,  had  made  himself  responsible  for  the  statements 
of  the  “ Scythian  Philosopher.”  The  compiler  assures  ns 
that  many  of  the  Istrian’s  narrations  had  not  been  repeated 
by  him  lest  their  marvels  should  cause  the  pious  to  stumble. 
Only  facts  well  ascertained  could  be  allowed  in  this  place ; 
and,  among  these,  we  have  a record  of  the  conquests  of 
Romulus2  in  the  Balkan  and  Danube  lands,  and  of  his 
victories  over  Lacedaemon  and  over  Francus  and  Yasus, 
ancestors  of  the  Franks  who  “ built  Sicambria.” 

Again,  the  brave  deeds  of  the  giant  Phyros  among  the 
Albanians  of  Central  Asia ; of  Alexander  3 when  he  threw 
down  Jason’s  altars  lest  they  should  rival  his  own ; and  of 
Pompey,  whose  exploits  had  been  recorded  by  his  faithful 
companion  Theophanes,  add  many  surprising  details  to  the 
ordinary  history.  Thus,  when  the  Macedonian  hero  shut  up 
“ Gog-Magog  and  twenty-two  nations  of  evil  men  ” behind  his 
Caspian  gates  and  Wall  of  iron,  the  prophecy  of  Micah  was 


1 Raleigh’s  confusion  is  remark- 
able. This,  he  tells  us,  was  “not 
that  latter  iEthicus,  otherwise  called 
« Istic,*  but  another  of  a far  higher 
time  . . . made  Latin  out  of  the  Greek 
by  Saint  Hierome  ” (“  History  of 
World,”  bk.  i.  ch.  3,  § 10).  See 
Bacon,  “ Opus  Majus,”  ed.  of  1733, 
pp.  168,  190,  225,  228-230,  235. 

The  iEthicus  (“  Cosmography  ”) 

which  Count  Everard,  brother-in-law 
of  Charles  the  Bald(?),  bequeathed 
along  with  the  Synonyma  of  Isidore 
in  837  to  his  eldest  son  Unroch,  is 


considered  by  Avezac  (“  Ethicus,”  36) 
to  be  a copy  of  the  Istrian ; but  it  was 
more  probably  one  of  the  other 
iEthicus  (cf.  Le  Mire,  Codex  Dona- 
tionum,  1624).  Raban  Maur  is  the 
oldest  certain  authority  who  cites 
iEth.  Istric.  (c.  a.d.  860).  The  pas- 
sages which  Avezac  (cf.  p.  37)  makes 
Isidore  cite  from  iEth.  Istric.  are  more 
probably  purloined  by  the  latter’s 
compiler  from  the  Encyclopaedist  of 
Seville. 

2 Chs.  63,  103. 

9 Ch.  64. 


358 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


fulfilled 1 — he  “ contended  before  the  mountains  ” and  “ the 
hills  heard  his  voice,  even  the  enduring  foundations  of 
the  earth,”  for  with  a loud  sound  they  were  plucked  out 
of  the  ground  and  piled  one  upon  another.  But  far  better 
than  this,  iEthicus  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  Amazons  to  the 
north  of  the  Caspian  suckling  the  Centaurs  and  Minataurs 
of  that  region ; and  the  bituminous  lake,  mouth  of  hell, 
whence  came  the  cement  of  Alexander’s  wall,  when  he  stayed 
in  the  city  of  Choolisma,  built  by  Magog,  son  of  Japhet.'2 
In  Armenia  the  philosopher  searched  in  vain  for  Noah’s 
Ark;  but  he  saw  dragons,  ostriches,  gryphons,  and  ants 
large  and  voracious  as  dogs;  and  he  could  testify  from 
personal  experience  that,  when  rain  descended  upon  Mount 
Ararat,  there  was  a rumbling  that  could  be  heard  to  the 
borders  of  the  country.3  A different  quest — for  the  Garden 
of  Eden — though  equally  fruitless,  brought  the  explorer  to 
the  Ganges ; where  he  was  entertained  by  a hospitable 
Indian  king,  fought  with  hippopotami,  and  rivalled  or  even 
surpassed  the  exploits  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana.4  From  Ceylon 
or  Taprobane,  iEthicus  sailed  round  to  the  North-West  by 
the  encircling  Ocean,  passing  on  his  way  Syrtinice  (island 
of  the  Sirens)  the  navel  of  our  hemisphere  in  the  Indian 
Ocean ; Ireland,  “ full  of  false  doctors ; ” the  Isle  of  Dogs  or 
dog-headed  men  in  the  Northern  Sea ; Bridinno,  the  land  of 
dwarfs ; and  the  country  of  the  Gryphons,  both  the  gold- 
guarding  quadrupeds,  and  also  a people  distinguished  for 


1 Micah  vi.  1,  2.  For  the  Alex- 
ander myth,  see  iEthic.  Istric.  chs. 
32,  33, 36, 39, 41,  59, 60,  62-64,  69, 75, 
82,  84.  This  legend  is  further  dis- 
cussed in  the  supplementary  chapter 
(pp.  407,  433,  etc.),  where  the  Arab 
tradition  is  noticed. 

2 Chs.  59,  60,  67,  68,  75. 


3 Chs.  70,  105. 

4 Christian  mythology,  suggests 
Lelewel  (Geog.  Epilogue,  p.  7),  may 
have  invented  the  travels  of  ASthicus 
as  a set-off  to  those  of  Apollonius, 
which  are  exactly  copied  by  the 
Istrian  in  reference  to  India. 


VI.] 


2ETHICUS  OF  ISTRIA. 


359 


music,  for  war,  and  for  navigation.1  A little  nearer  to 
matter  of  fact,  is  our  compiler’s  mention  of  the  Turks — a 
people  monstrous,  abject,  idolatrous,  with  yellow  teeth,  as 
befitted  the  offspring  of  Gog  and  Magog.  This  inviting 
race  is  apparently  located  by  iEthicus  in  Modern  Bussia, 
touching  the  Northern  Ocean  on  one  side  and  the  Black  Sea 
on  another.2  Among  the  pirates  of  the  Northern  Ocean 
Alexander  the  Great  had  once  lived,  to  learn  from  them 
“ the  depth  of  ocean  and  of  the  abyss,”  and  bis  submarine 
navigation  in  those  parts  is  faithfully  chronicled  by  the 
Istrian  traveller.3 

But  besides  practical  exploration,  ^Ethicus  gives  us  a 
system  of  the  universe.  His  sun  is  a disc  which  enters  by 
the  gate  of  the  East  to  enlighten  the  earth,  and  retires  by 
that  of  the  West  in  order  to  return  during  the  night  to  its 
starting-point,  hidden  by  thick  mists  or  a great  mountain  4 
which  screens  it  from  human  sight,  but  allows  it  to  impart  a 
fraction  of  its  radiance  to  the  moon  and  stars.  The  poles,  or 
hinges  of  the  world,  are  connected  by  a mighty  line  from  the 
extreme  of  icy  cold  in  the  North  to  the  rich,  salubrious,  and 
vitalising  centre  in  the  South,  whence  blow  5 the  winds  that 
propagate  serenity.  iEthicus  will  not  allow  of  any  rotation 
of  the  earth,  which  reposes  upon  the  Abyss.  Scarcely  any  one 
is  more  prodigal  of  earth-navels,  or  centres,  than  our  Istrian 
or  his  abbre viator — the  isle  of  the  Sirens,  Nineveh,  Jerusa- 
lem, and  the  southern  extreme  of  earth,  all  serve  for  this  in 
turn, — but  we  can  hardly  be  surprised  at  any  extravagance 


1 Ohs.  18,  19,  22,  28,  31,  33,  36,  41, 
53,  56, 63. 

2 Chs.  31, 32, 63, 64 ; cf.  Pliny,  H.N. 
vi.  7,  Mela.  i.  21. 

3 Ohs.  36,  40,  67.  This  story  is 

copied  by  Roger  Bacon,  “De  Mirabili 

Potestate  Artis.” 


4 “Astrixis,”  ch.  21.  The  name 
occurs  in  Orosius,  i.  2,  as  a mountain 
of  Western  Africa.  See  also  JEth. 
Istric.  chs.  16,  18,  20.  Isidore, 
Etym.  iii.  40 ; xiv.  5. 

5 Chs.  20,  21. 


360  GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY.  [Ch. 

here.  No  ordinary  limitations  seem  to  bind  the  illus- 
trious neophyte,  or  rather  the  forger  who  in  all  probability 
first  invented  this  wild  original,  and  then  sheltered  himself 
behind  the  name  of  the  great  Latin  doctor.  Yet  the  success 
of  his  manoeuvre  gives  more  reasonable  ground  for  surprise. 
We  have  been  asked  to  see  the  hand  of  Saint  Jerome  in  a 
work  which  separates  Tullius  and  Cicero,  which  refers  to  the 
saatf ^-century  poems  of  Bishop  Alcimus  Avitus  of  Vienne ; 1 
which  in  its  mention  of  the  Turks  and  other  inadvertences 
clearly  belies  its  pretended  fourth-century  origin ; which 
bears  evidence  on  every  page  of  a Greek  struggling  to  write 
impossible  Latin ; and  which — apart  from  all  these  incon- 
sistencies— is  a libel  on  the  intelligence,  the  style,  and  the 
vocabulary  of  the  author  of  the  Vulgate.2  Even  this  was 
not  enough  for  credulity.  Not  only  was  St.  Jerome  the 
translator,  but  iEthicus  was  a real  traveller.  His  disputes 
with  Aurilius  and  Arbocrates  in  Spain,  his  conversations 
with  Fabius  in  Athens,  his  voyages  in  the  Northern  Sea 
were  genuine.  It  was  unfortunate  he  sometimes  strayed 
into  fable,  but  so  did  many  excellent  writers ; and  if  he 
described  Babylon  in  full  splendour,  Thebes  as  Pausanias 
saw  it,  and  Greece  in  the  sense  of  the  Byzantine  Empire 
after  the  Saracen  conquests,  these  anachronisms  were  due  to 
the  vividness  of  his  historical  imagination.  After  this,  it 
needed  little  or  no  assurance  to  add  that  Orosius,  Solinus. 
and  Isidore  copied  him — although  the  copyists  rarely  failed 
to  give  a clearer  and  simpler  account  than  their  supposed 
original.  So  have  eminent  scholars 3 of  the  nineteenth 


1 See  A£thic.  ch.  11. 

2 So  long  ago  as  1658,  Will.  Burton, 
in  his  commentary  on  “ Antonine’s 
Itinerary,”  said  all  that  was  needed 

about  the  then  unpublished  Istrian, 
“ a book  containing  many  things 


fabulous  and  foolish,  and  unworthy 
St.  Jerome’s  pains  in  translating,  if 
he  ever  did  it.” 

3  On  the  various  “ JEthican  ” and 
“ pseudo-^Ethican  ” works,  see  Grono- 
vius,  appendix  to  his  Pompon.  Mela 


VI.]  JETHIOUS  OF  ISTRIA — AND  HIS  NAMESAKE.  361 


century  bowed  before  claims  which  appeared  grotesque  to 
Pico  della  Mirandola  in  the  fifteenth,  securing  another 
victory  for  the  time-honoured  device  of  Ctesias  and  Mande- 
ville,  and  once  more  accepting  as  sufficient  evidence  of 
itself  the  word  of  one  whom  we  cannot  but  suspect  both 
of  plagiarism  and  imposture. 

The  so-called  iEthicus  of  Istria  is  probably,  as  we  have 
seen,  a compilation  not  earlier  than  the  seventh  century; 
the  other  .ZEthicus  may  be  fairly  supposed  to  have  written 
his  “Cosmography”  at  a date  a little  subsequent  to  the 
opening  of  the  sixth. 

Two  kinds  of  geographical  description  were  common  in 
these  times.  One  was  fourfold,  dealing  with  the  earth  in 
reference  to  the  cardinal  points  of  North,  South,  East  and 
West.  The  other  was  threefold,  answering  to  three  Con- 
tinentSj  and  resting  upon  a Biblical  analogy  with  the  three 
sons  of  Noah ; just  as  the  former  method  looked  for  support 
to  the  four  C-ospels  and  the  four  Major  Prophets.  Julius 
Honorius,  like  Cosmas,1  employed  the  quadripartite  division 
Paulus  Orosius  the  tripartite ; our  present  .ZEthicus — 
“ ZEthicus  the  cosmographer  ” — copied  and  combined  the  two. 

But  at  the  beginning,  he  repeated  with  fuller  detail 
than  is  elsewhere  to  be  found,  the  tradition  of  Caesar’s 
measurement  of  the  earth.  Julius  Caesar,  he  declares,  the 
inventor  of  the  bissextile  year,  that  man  so  profoundly 
learned  in  Divine  and  human  law,  induced  the  senate  (when 
he  was  consul)  to  decree  that  all  the  Boman  world  should  be 


of  1722;  Ayezac,  “Ethicus  etles  Ouv- 
rages  Cosmographiques  intitules  de 
ce  Nom  ” (Paris,  1852);  Lelewel, 
“ Geographic  du  Moyen  Age,” 
epilogue,  §.  “ Les  Ethicus ; ” Wuttke, 
“ Cosmographia  iEthici  Istrici  ” 
(Leipsic,  1854) ; (“  Die  Aechtheit  des 


Auszugs  . . . des  iEthicus  ”);  K.  A.F. 
Pertz,  De  Cosm.  iEth.  (Berlin,  1853) ; 
Walckenaer,  in  “ Biographie  Univer- 
selle,”  and  Ck„  Muller,  in  “ Nouvelle 
Biographie  Generale”  (Paris,  1856). 

1 In  book  ii.  of  the  “ Christian  To- 
pography.” 


302 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


measured  by  prudent  men ; and  within  thirty-two  years  the 
whole  work  was  accomplished  by  Zenodoxus  in  the  East,  by 
Theodotus  in  the  north,  by  Polyclitus  in  the  South,  and 
(as  the  Honorian  text  supplies)  by  Didymus  in  the  West. 
In  this  curious  passage,  .Ethicus  probably  gives  a genuine 
tradition,  with  some  errors  of  his  own.  A survey  of  the 
imperial  roads,  such  as  he  refers  to,  was  indeed  almost  cer- 
tainly the  origin  of  the  map  of  Agrippa  at  Rome  (set  up  in 
the  reign  of  Augustus),  of  the  map  preserved  at  Autun  in 
the  third  century,  and  of  other  “ painted  worlds,”  of  which 
we  have  at  least  one  survival,  in  the  Peutinger  table. 

The  rest  of  the  “ Cosmography  ” is  practically  (though  not 
always  verbally)  identical1  with  those  excerpts  of  Julius 
Honorius  which  are  first  named  by  Cassiodorus  (about  a.d. 
500)  as  a useful  book  for  the  monks  of  his  time ; and  with 
the  second  chapter  of  Orosius’s  history,  which,  in  the 
iEthican  collection,  follows  the  excerpts  aforesaid. 

iEthicus  indeed  writes  as  a patriotic  Italian,  and  lays 
greater  emphasis  on  the  glory  of  Rome  than  do  his  models, 
but,  as  a rule,  his  servility  is  close  enough.  Thus  his  list  of 
Northern  peoples  is  reproduced  verbatim  with  the  unlucky 
addition  of  a few  Oriental  nations,  who  have  slipped  in  by 
mistake  from  another  part  of  the  original  Catalogue. 
Like  the  Istrian,  his  imagination  sometimes  runs  together 
different  ages  and  events,  as  when  he  refers  to  the  gates  2 of 
what  he  evidently  conceives  as  Christian  Rome  animated  by 
a commerce  worthy  only  of  the  pagan  Empire ; or  witness- 
ing the  pageants  of  the  old  civilisation  in  a time  which 
had  heard  the  name  of  the  Huns  by  the  Western  Sea. 


1 The  amount  of  difference  is  only 
about  one-seventh  (see  Riese’s  edition 
of  the  Minor  Latin  Geographers). 

It  seems  probable  that  Julius  the 
Orator  (whom  Cassiodorus  quotes) 


lived  pretty  near  to  the  latter’s  own 
time  (see  Cassiodorus,  De  Inst. 
Div.  Script,  ch.  25). 

2 Esj . “ The  gates  of  Felix,”  who 
died  a.d.  274. 


VI.] 


THE  “HONORIAN”  ASTHICUS — SEQUESTER.  363 


But  in  both  cases  this  jumble  is  natural  enough:  Just  as 

an  air  of  spurious  antiquity  has  been  given  to  the  Istrian 
by  the  legend  of  St.  Jerome’s  version,  and  all  the  details 
which  are  meant  to  bear  out  the  same ; so  the  other 
JEthicus  struggles  to  gain  a like  advantage  for  himself  by 
his  allusions  to  Ancient  Rome;  and  in  both  cases  the 
pretence  was  highly  successful.  For  just  as  the  Istrian’s 
travels  were  accepted  as  real  and  their  translation  by  St. 
Jerome  as  genuine;  so  his  namesake  has  been  treated  as 
the  source  and  not  the  copyist  of  Orosius’  geography,  as 
the  author  of  the  Antonine  itinerary,  and  even  of  the 
Peutinger  Table,  and  thetNotitia  Dignitatum;  while  John 
of  Salisbury1  pays  him  the  final  compliment  of  quoting  as 
from  his  pen  some  undoubted  lines  of  Horace  and  of  Juvenal. 

Like  the  other  catalogue-geographies  of  his  age,  this 
““  Cosmography  ” is,  for  the  most  part,  made  up  of  lists  of 
place-names,  marked,  as  we  might  expect,  by  peculiar  con- 
fusedness. No  regard  is  paid  to  distinctions  of  country, 
race,  or  religion ; the  only  attempt  at  regular  and  orderly 
treatment  is  in  the  case  of  certain  rivers ; and  of  these  there 
is  only  one  which  really  interests  the  compiler,  and  that  is 
the  “ beautiful  Tiber,  king  of  streams.” 

And  with  the  enumeration  of  Julius  iEthicus  we  may 
group  the  similar  though  earlier  work  of  Yibius  Sequester, 
probably  of  the  fourth  century,  which  may  have  been  used 
by  the  later  Honorius  and  his  copyist,  and  which  gives  a brief 
register  of  the  Rivers,  Fountains,  Lakes,  Forests,  Marshes, 
Mountains  and  Peoples  “ of  which  the  poets  make  mention.”  2 


1 Metalog.  ii.  4,  7 ; Polycrat,  i.  8, 

13;  ii.  2;  iii.  1,  2,  4,  8,  9,  14; 
viii.  15,  24.  For  the  best  treatment 
of  this  (as  well  as  of  the  Istrian) 
JEthicus,  see  the  essays  of  Avezac  and 
Lelewel  as  cited  above  (especially 
Avezac,  pp.  64-120). 


2 See  Riese,  Geographi  Latini  Mi- 
norca ; Notices  in  B.U. ; and  N.B.G-.  ; 
Brunet,  Manuel  (1864),  v.  1171, 1172  ; 
Engelmann,  Bibl.  Class  (1847),  467 ; 
Graesse  (1867),  VI.  ii.  296.  Vossius, 
Hist.  Lat.  (1651),  727.  The  tract  is 
dedicated  by  Sequester  to  his  son’s  use. 


364 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


It  was  either  contemporary  with  iEthicus,  or  a little 
later,  that  there  appeared  a more  important  work  of  Christian 
science  than  that  of  Vibius,  at  least  as  far  as  its  mediaeval 
influence  was  concerned.  Few  books  ever  illustrated  the 
value  of  translation  more  than  the  version  now  made  by  the 
grammarian  Priscian1  of  the  old  Greek  Coast  Survey  of 
Dionysius  “ Periegetes.”  But  for  this  and  the  similar  per- 
formance of  Avienus,  one  of  the  most  popular  of  geographical 
tracts  would  have  remained  closed  to  the  West,  and  our 
“ Anglo-Saxon  ” map  in  the  Cotton  Library,2  for  instance, 
would  have  been  drawn  to  illustrate  some  other  text.  The 
transcribers  both  treated  their  model  pretty  freely,  para- 
phrasing, abridging,  and  inserting  at  will  (as  where  Avienus 
supplies  an  improved  description  of  the  sources  of  the  Rhine 
and  Danube3).  But  neither  added  much  to  the  current 
misconceptions,  except  a welcome  confirmation.  It  is  true 
Priscian  uses  rather  peculiar  phrases  about  the  shape  of 
the  earth,  which  he  insists  on  likening  to  a sling ; but  this 
is  a commonplace  with  a certain  school  of  classical  geo- 
graphers, though  it  becomes  quite  unconventional  later. 
Like  Orosius  and  the  rest,  but  more  precisely,  he  compares 
both  Europe  and  Africa  to  oblong  tables  in  form ; and  his 
stories  of  voyages  round  from  the  Northern  Ocean4  to 
Ceylon,  of  the  columns  of  Bacchus  in  the  extreme  East 
corresponding  to  the  columns  of  Hercules  in  the  West,  and 
of  the  Red  Sea’s  title  from  the  burning  south  wind  that 
desolated  it,  are  only  too  well  known  to  us  already. 

Passing  by  various  other  works  of  the  early  Christian 
time,  which  merely  allude  to  things  geographical,  or  have  a 


1  Of  Caesarea,  468-475  (according  to 

Chevalier);  Avienus  (Rufus  Festus) 
is  probably  of  the  earlier  fifth  cen- 

tury. Of  the  two  versions,  Priscian’s 

was  much  the  closer. 


2 Tiberius,  B.  v.  folio  59. 

3 Descriptio  Orbis  Terrae,  11.  433, 
etc. ; partly  from  Pliny,  iv.  12,  and 
from  Strabo  and  Ptolemy. 

4 Cf.  Strabo,  bks.  ii.  and  xi. 


VI.] 


PRISCIAN,  CASSIODORUS,  PROCOPIUS,  ETC. 


365 


strictly  local  interest,  such  as  the  poems  1 of  Ausonius,  or  the 
history  of  Ammianns  Marcellinus  (who,  like  Ptolemy  him- 
self, has  been  too  confidently  credited  with  the  “earliest 
mention  ” of  the  sea  of  Aral),  we  now  come  to  the  sixth 
century. 

And  here  we  have,  first  of  all,  the  interesting  piece  of 
advice  which  Cassiodorus,  the  minister  of  the  great  Theodoric 
in  the  Ostro-Gothic  kingdom  of  Italy,  gave  to  the  monks 
of  his  time.  He  urges  them  to  study  cosmography  with 
especial  care,  and  in  their  reading  to  refer,  above  all,  to 
Scripture,  and  the  writings  of  Julius  Honorius,  Ptolemy, 
Dionysius,  and  one  Marcellinus,  who  had  composed  an 
account  of  Constantinople  and  Jerusalem.2 

Probably  no  writer  of  this  time  had  juster  or  more 
enlightened  geographical  notions  than  Procopius;  but  he 
only  takes  account  of  their  subject-matter  in  the  course  of 
the  history  of  Justinian’s  wars.  Prom  his  allusions,  how- 
ever, we  may  gather  that  he  did  not  altogether  share  the 
ordinary  view  of  the  encircling  ocean  as  the  limit  of  the 
habitable  world.  In  the  same  critical  spirit  he  apparently 
ignored  the  traditional  division  of  three  continents,  as  he 
believed,  like  his  age,  that  the  mass  of  Asia  was  fully  equal 
to  all  the  land  of  Europe  and  of  Africa ; and  as  to  the  Nile, 
though  elsewhere  he  repeats  the  fable  of  its  flowing  from 
the  Indies,  his  ignorance  of  its  sources  is  plainly  avowed.3 

Far  more  singular  is  the  language  of  Procopius  about 
Britain,  which  has  now  evidently  relapsed  into  the  haze 
on  the  horizon  of  knowledge,  first  penetrated  by  Pytheas ; 
and  has  become  to  the  Byzantine  historian,  after  the  lapse  of 


1 The  Mosella  (a.d.  368)  and  the 
Ordo  Nobilium  TJrbium  (cf.  Banbury, 
Anc.  Geog.  c.  xxxi.). 

2 De  Inst.  Div.  Litt.,  as  cited  before. 

3 In  the  same  way  as  he  disclaims 


any  precise  knowledge  of  the  extremi- 
ties of  Africa  (Hist,  of  the  Vandal 
and  Gothic  Wars,  esp.  De  Bell.  Goth, 
ii.  14,  15 ; iv.  20).  Procop.’s  Thule 
is  clearly  Norway. 


366 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


eight  hundred  years,  a dim  and  ghostly  country  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  inhabited  world,  in  the  Western  parts  of  which 
no  men  were  to  be  found,  but  only  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 

Another  sixth-century  historian — largely  used,  as  we 
have  seen,  by  the  Ravennese  geographer — devoted  a good 
deal  of  space  to  the  description  of  countries.  Jornandes,  in 
his  “ Rise  and  Deeds  of  the  Goths  ” 1 (c.  a.d.  551),  gives  many 
local  details  of  northern  lands,  especially  of  the  modern 
Russia,  Prussia,  and  Scandinavia,2  and  refers  with  awe  to  the 
impassable  ocean,  whose  outer  boundaries  no  one  had  ever 
ventured  to  approach  or  to  describe. 

The  geographical  notices  in  Gregory  of  Tours  are  chiefly 
of  interest  to  practical  travel ; but  he  is  also  careful  to  let 
us  have  his  judgment  on  the  torrid  zone  as  uninhabitable,, 
and  on  the  Nile  as  flowing  from  the  East,  or,  in  other  words, 
from  Paradise. 

Last  of  the  pre-Moslem  geographers  of  Christendom  is 
St.  Isidore  of  Seville.  In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  books 
of  his  “Etymologies,”  or  “Origins,”  the  Spanish  bishop 
follows  the  example  of  the  Spanish  presbyter  Orosius  in  an 
attempted  survey  of  the  world,  which  is  brief,  definitive,  and 
educational.  For  although  Solinus  is  quoted  two  hundred 
times,  the  work  of  Isidore  is  not  the  compilation  of  a 
bestiary,  nor  are  his  objects  those  of  the  fabulist  in  any 
shape.  The  natural  history  he  gives  us  is  meant  to  instruct, 
not  to  amuse. 

Thus,  in  his  thirteenth  book,  he  tenderly  deals  with  the 
world  as  a whole,  with  the  ocean  and  the  Mediterranean 
(which  he  is  the  first  to  define  clearly  by  that  “proper 
name”),  with  the  inlets  of  the  sea,  and  with  the  tides, 
lakes,  pools,  and  rivers  of  our  earth.  Coming  to  Continental 
geography,  in  his  next  section  he  enumerates 3 the  various 

1 Chs.  i.-iv.  I 3 Isid.  xiv.  3-5. 

2 On  which  he  cites  Ptolemy.  | 


VI.]  JORNANDES— ISIDORE— ARMENIAN  GEOGRAPHY.  367 


countries  from  east  to  west ; the  Mseotid  Marshes/  or  Sea  of 
Azov,  he  considers,  in  rather  unauthorised  language,  to 
form,  along  with  the  Tanais,  or  Don,  the  northern  boundary 
of  Asia ; in  Africa  he  evidently  knows  of  nothing  south 
of  Abyssinia  but  inaccessible  wastes,  and  nothing  south  of 
Fezzan  but  the  ocean.1  In  Europe,  again,  he  makes  Ireland 
the  land  of  “ Scots,”  and  Ireland  the  antidote  to  serpents, 
into  two  separate  countries;  on  the  other  hand,  he  shows, 
for  a professed  theologian,  a quite  noteworthy  breadth  of 
general  ideas, — admitting  the  possible  existence  of  Anti- 
podean lands,  or  a “ fourth  part  of  earth  to  the  south  of  the 
Interior  Ocean,”  unknown  to  us  from  the  heat  of  the  sun, 
as  he  unhappily  hastens  to  add.  The  “ Fabled  Antipods,” 
or  Antipodean  people,  who  were  said  to  live  in  the  extremity 
of  this  land,  is  probably  St.  Isidore’s  compromise  between 
religion  and  science.  For  whatever  might  be  said  of 
worlds  beyond  our  ken,  it  was  plainly  heresy  to  assert,  as 
Yirgil  did  a little  later,  the  existence  of  a race  of  men  who 
could  not  be  descended  from  Adam,  and  for  whom,  there- 
fore, Christ  had  not  died.2 

The  geography  commonly  ascribed  to  the  famous 
Armenian  historian,  Moses  of  Khorene,  in  the  fifth  century, 
has  been  also  assigned  to  Ananias  of  Schirag  in  the  seventh. 
In  any  case,  it  is  simply  a version  of  certain  parts  of  Ptolemy, 
with  a few  additions  and  remarks, — a version  which  seems 
itself  to  have  been  founded  upon  an  earlier  work  of  one 
Pappus  of  Alexandria,3  author  of  a “ Christian  Topography,” 
which  some  have  conjectured,  in  the  face  of  all  evidence,  to 


1 Isid.  xiv.  5. 

2 An  early  imitator  of  Isidore  is 
probably  another  geographical  writer 
of  this  time,  the  anonymous  author  of 

the  “Yersus  de  Provinciis  Partium 
Mundi,”  in  a manuscript  of  the  later 


seventh  or  earlier  eighth  century 
(Paris  Bibl.  Nat.  Lat.  5092),  in  129 
lines,  which  need  not  be  further 
noticed. 

3  Known  to  Suidas,  and  cited  by 
him. 


368 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


be  the  same  as  the  work  of  Cosmas  under  that  title.  Beside 
Pappus,  the  Armenian  redactor  quotes  Constantine  of 
Antioch,  who  had  written  upon  the  same  subject ; Denis, 
who  is  possibly  the  classical  Dionysius  Periegetes  ; and  one 
Apollon,  who  is  still  more  difficult  to  identify.  He  appears, 
moreover,  to  have  borrowed  somewhat  from  a “ History  of 
Alexander  ” of  the  Oriental  pattern. 

Following  Ptolemy,1  he  expresses  his  belief  in  unlimited 
land  beyond  the  inhabited  earth,  rather  than  ocean,  and  in 
the  truth  of  alleged  journeys  far  into  the  torrid  South,  to 
Agysimba  and  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon.  Once  more,  he 
repeats  his  teacher  on  the  land-locked  character  of  the 
Caspian  as  of  the  Indian  Ocean ; on  the  overwhelming  size  of 
Asia,  and  especially  of  Ceylon ; and  on  the  fish-eating  Ethio- 
pians, the  chariot  of  the  Gods,2  and  other  features  of  Western 
and  Eastern  Africa : just  as  he  reproduces  him  in  nearly  all 
the  more  prosaic  details  of  various  countries.  From  Christian 
authorities  he  derives,  it  is  true,  some  more  imaginative 
touches — “the  earth  built  on  nothing,”  in  the  words  of  Job 
and  St.  Gregory  the  Illuminator ; “ the  arch  of  heaven 
passing  from  the  east  towards  us  in  the  middle  of  the  earth,” 
as  Constantine  of  Antioch  had  said;  the  “water  in  the 
foundations  of  the  land,”  of  which  St.  Basil  had  spoken  in  his 
Hexaemeron.  From  the  same  teachers,  he  refutes  Ptolemy’s 
suggestion  that  Yemen,3  or  happy  Arabia,  was  in  the  centre 


1  See  M.  J.  St.  Martin,  “ Memoire 

sur  TArmenie,  1819 ; ” the  edition  of 

(the  doubtful)  Moses  at  the  Armenian 
convent  in  Venice,  1881  (“  Moses  de 
Khorene  ”) ; the  Latin  translation 
of  the  Whiston  brothers  (London, 
1736),  and  St.  Croix,  in  Journal  des 
Savants,  for  1789,  p.  217.  Mr.  F.  C. 
Conybeare  has  kindly  shown  me 
his  manuscript  translation  of  some 


sections  of  the  genuine  Ananias. 

2 Teneriffe? 

3 Yemen,  or  the  Sabean  Land, 
where  the  Queen  of  Sheba  came  from, 
was  obviously  an  impossible  earth- 
centre.  Did  not  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  say  plainly  that  she  came 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  hear  the 
wisdom  of  Solomon  ? 


VI.]  ARMENIAN  GEOGRAPHY— ANANIAS  OF  SCHIRAG.  369 

of  the  inhabited  world;  for  this  place  was  clearly  due  to 
Jerusalem,  where  God  had  “ worked  salvation  in  the  midst 
of  the  earth.”  Yet  on  the  whole  the  Armenian  geographer 
is  Ptolemaic  and  classical  in  spirit,  and  very  much  the 
reverse  of  credulous.  He  rejects  the  griffins  of  Arabia ; he 
refuses  to  dogmatize  about  the  resting-place  of  the  Ark ; 
and  as  to  the  double-faced,  dragon-footed,  six-handed,  and 
other  exceptionally  endowed  races  on  the  borders  of  China, 
he  refuses  to  believe  in  any  of  them.  When  he  says  that 
no  ship  has  ever  sailed  north  of  Scandinavia  and  the 
Shetlands,1  he  does  nothing  worse  than  repeat  the  ordinary 
tradition  of  the  Old  Empire  ; as  to  monsters,  he  is  satisfied 
with  a moderate  selection  of  such  as  contented  Pliny ; his 
account  of  the  long  walls  of  the  Caucasus  is  markedly  in 
contrast  with  the  mediaeval  fables  about  the  rampart  of  Gog 
Magog,  in  the  same  region  of  the  world ; and  he  expressly 
parts  company  with  those  who  took  the  Bible  as  an  ex- 
clusive guide  to  the  science  of  geography. 

Very  different  from  the  mild  reasonableness  of  his  spirit 
is  the  true  Ananias  of  Shirag.  In  his  chapters  about  the 
44  Earth,”  the  Sea,  44the  Heavenly  Orders”  and  44  Luminaries,” 
he  does  scarcely  anything  but  echo  the  strictly  Patristic 
views  with  considerable  violence  of  expression.  He  44  abhors  ” 
to  quote  the  speculations  of  wicked  philosophers  on  the 
suspension  of  the  world  in  space;  he  denounces  the  idea 
of  antipodean  peoples,  surrounding  the  globe  44  as  flies  sur- 
round an  apple ; ” and  in  general  he  seems  to  consider  almost 
anything  as  self-condemned  which  had  once  been  broached 
by  the  44  insane  heathen.”  As  against  their  delusions,  he 
affirms,  for  instance,  that  the  Ocean2  has  in  it  no  living 
creatures,  is  without  boundary,  and  is  carefully  avoided  by 

2 “ The  sea  which  envelopes  the  earth.” 

2 B 


1 Scandia  and  Thule. 


370 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Cir. 


the  light  of  the  sun ; that  the  Caspian  communicates  with 
the  outer  sea,  if  not  on  the  surface  of  the  land,  at  any  rate 
by  subterranean  channels ; that  the  earth’s  foundations  are 
literally  laid  upon  the  waters,  as  it  is  said  in  the  Psalms ; 
and  that  evaporation  is  not  caused  by  the  heat  of  the  sun, 
but  by  the  ordinance  of  God.  Because  pagans  had  supposed 
the  moon  to  derive  her  light  from  the  sun,  Ananias  leans 
to  the  belief  of  “ two  church  writers,”  who  regarded  it  as 
independent  and  original.  But  chief  among  the  “ church 
writers  ” that  he  uses,  must  have  been  St.  Basil,  and  when 
following  the  arguments  and  illustrations  of  the  Hexaemeron,1 
Ananias  greatly  improves  the  character  of  his  polemic. 

The  Venerable  Bede  has  already  been  noticed  as  an  his- 
torian of  practical  travel  in  his  account  of  Arculf ; but  he 
has  also  a certain  place  in  geographical  science,  and  one  of 
considerable  importance.  For  among  the  lesser  Christian 
doctors  who  directed  and  instructed  the  Church  between 
Gregory  the  Great  and  Gregory  the  Seventh,  between  the 
later  Fathers  and  the  earlier  schoolmen,  no  one  left  a more 
famous  name  than  the  monk  of  Jarrow ; and  his  obiter  dicta 
were  quoted  on  matters  cosmographical  as  they  were  on 
matters  grammatical,  rhetorical,  or  theological. 

In  three  separate  treatises 2 he  delivered  himself  upon 
the  “ Constitution  of  Heaven  and  Earth,”  in  language  which 


1 As  upon  the  uniform  size  of  the 
sun,  from  every  terrestrial  point  of 
view,  as  proving  its  real  greatness 
and  distance,  we  may  notice  that  he 
quotes  from  the  heathen  the  com- 
parison of  the  universe  to  an  egg, 
and  of  the  earth  to  an  iron  mass  held 
fast  in  mid  air  by  the  attraction  of  a 

magnetic  vault  or  roof.  Against  the 
possibility  of  antipodes,  he  claims  to 
have  had  a special  revelation  in  a 


private  interview  with  the  sun  (“a 
youth,  beardless  and  golden-haired, 
with  gold-anointed  lips  ”),  who  ex- 
pressly told  him  that  he  did  not  give 
light  at  night  to  any  beings  beneath 
the  earth. 

2 I.e.  (1)  “De  Mundi  Ccelestis 
terrseque  Constitutione  ; ” (2)  “ De 
Elementis  Philosophise ; ” (3)  “De 
Natura  Rerum.” 


VI.] 


BEDE  THE  VENERABLE. 


371 


(on  many  points)  kept  carefully  within  time-honoured  mis- 
conceptions, but  with  a certain  vigour  and  freshness  of  style. 
The  earth,1  to  his  mind,  was  an  element  placed  in  the  midst 
of  the  universe,  as  the  yelk  in  an  egg ; around  it  was  the 
water,  like  the  white  of  egg  about  the  yellow ; around  the 
water  was  the  air,  like  the  membrane  within  the  shell ; and 
this  again  was  encircled  by  the  fire — itself  the  shell  or 
cover  of  all.  From  the  action  of  these  elements  upon  the 
earth  in  the  centre,  this  last  received  diverse  qualities — heat 
in  the  middle,  and  cold  at  the  extremities, — whence  came 
the  uninhabitable  regions  of  the  tropics  and  the  poles.2  For 
it  is  plain  that  he  conceived  the  external  fire,  not  as  a real 
shell,  but  only  as  a belt,  like  Saturn’s  rings.  If  his  words 
mean  what  they  say,  it  is  equally  plain  that  he  conceived 
the  earth  as  absolutely  spherical ; but  this  was  now  so  un- 
usual an  opinion,  that  it  is  likely  he  would  have  preferred 
the  comparison  to  a cylinder  cut  in  half  along  its  length — 
in  other  words,  to  a disc,  or  the  form  of  a Boman  shield,  a 
half-curve.  Of  the  two  temperate  zones  Bede  declares  his 
belief  that  both  were  habitable,  but  only  one  actually  in- 
habited, probably  from  the  theological  difficulties  of  fitting 
Antipodean  man  into  the  Jewish  tradition  and  the  Christian 
scheme  of  salvation. 

It  was  the  ocean,3  encircling  all  the  inhabited  region 
known  to  us,  which  filled  the  torrid  zone,  and  divided  the 
northern  from  the  southern  earth ; and,  from  its  position,  this 
ocean  was,  of  course,  not  to  be  traversed — so  that  between 
the  “ upper  ” and  “ lower  ” regions  of  the  world  (as  he  calls 
them)  there  was  a great  gulf  fixed,  so  that  they  which  would 


1 De  El.  Phil.,  iv.,  p.  225,  Col.  edit, 
of  1612.  This  was  a pagan  specula- 
tion. 

2 So  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  in 


John  Philoponus,  “ On  Creation,”  iii. 
10,  119. 

3  De  Mundi  Coelestis  terrseque 
Constitutione. 


372 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


pass  from  hence  could  not,  neither  they  (if  any  there  be) 
that  would  come  from  thence. 

As  to  the  continents  (whose  traditional  threefold  divi- 
sion he  did  not  challenge,  though  he  evidently  held  the 
orthodox  view  of  Africa  as  a long  and  narrow  strip  along 
the  south  of  the  Mediterranean),  Bede 1 simply  copies  the 
well-worn  phrases,  about  Asia  as  the  half  of  terra  firma 
equal  in  size  to  both  its  rivals  together ; about  the  Nile  and 
Paradise  as  forming  the  eastern  and  southern  boundaries 
of  the  same  Asia ; and  about  the  Sea  of  Azov 2 as  limiting 
Europe  on  the  north. 

Virgil,  the  Hibernian  bishop  of  Salzburg,  was  the  most 
original,3  as  he  was  the  most  fanciful  geographer  of  the 
eighth  century.  In  a.d.  748,  St.  Boniface,  as  the  head  of 
the  Boman  missions  in  Germany,  wrote  to  Pope  Zacharias 
to  complain  that  this  Irish  intruder  (who  died  in  784,  in  the 
odour  of  sanctity,  as  the  apostle  of  Carinthia)  was  then 
teaching  various  perverse  and  wicked  doctrines  against 
God  and  his  own  soul.  In  particular,  he  had  declared  his 
faith  in  another  world  and  other  men,  another  sun  and 
another  moon  beneath  the  earth. 

Zacharias  answered  by  condemning  these  errors,  and 
ordering  Virgil  to  come  and  clear  his  doctrine  at  Rome. 
But  the  pope  (like  men  at  the  present  day)  seems  to 
have  been  very  doubtful  as  to  what  the  accused  really 
meant.  If  Boniface  had  understood  aright,  Virgil  must 
retract,  or  be  driven  out  of  the  Church.  But  the  language 
of  Boniface  was  itself  ambiguous ; and  not  less  so  are  all 

1 De  Nat.  Rerum,  c.  ix. 

2 Enormously  exaggerated,  as  by 
nearly  every  early  geographer.  Even 
Ptolemy  makes  it  much  greater  than 
the  Black  Sea;  and  the  ordinary 
language  (cf.  Isidore)  spoke  of  the 


Euxine  as  flowing  into  it,  like  the 
Propontis  into  the  Mediterranean. 

3 a.d.  745-784.  He  was  patronized 
and  advanced  by  King  Pepin  le 
Bref,  who  was  impressed  by  his 
learning. 


VI.]  VIRGIL  OF  SALZBURG — RABAN  MAUR.  373 

other  references  to  the  new  theory.  Either  Y-irgil  was 
speaking  of  the  Antipodes,  or  he  was  not.  If  he  was,  he 
had  the  companionship  (at  least,  as  to  the  possibility  of  such 
* opposite  countries  ”)  of  St.  Isidore,1  and  a respectable 
minority  of  educated  opinion.  It  is  not  probable  that  the 
court  of  Eome  would  then  have  cared  to  close  the  gates 
on  an  opinion  which  Basil  and  Ambrose,  among  others, 
had  declared  an  open  question.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
assertion  of  a separate  human  race  was  distinctly  heretical. 
If,  again,  Virgil  was  suggesting  another  world,  placed  like 
a layer  below  the  present,  and  as  it  were  enclosed  within 
it,  he  was  broaching  a novelty  too  audacious  for  the  Church 
of  his  time  to  tolerate.2  All  accounts  are  agreed  as  to  his 
learning,  especially  in  Greek ; but  he  may  not  have 
understood  all  that  he  read.  Overmuch  study,  a fertile 
imagination,  slender  reasoning  powers,  and  a tendency  to 
confusedness  of  thought,  may  together  have  been  responsible 
for  some  vagaries. 

Raban  Maur,  the  famous  ninth-century  bishop  of  Mainz, 
was  another  man  of  position  and  reputation  who  dabbled  in 
geography.  We  know  him  best  as  an  opponent  of  early 
papalism,  a defender  of  the  liberties  of  the  German  Church 
against  Roman  aggression,  and  an  enemy  of  the  extreme 
predestinarian  school  of  his  time.  But  he  was  also  an 
Encyclopaedist.  In  his  book,  “ De  Universo,”  he  gives  us 
a summary  of  knowledge  as  then  conceived,  and  in  the 


1 Possibly  of  Bede  as  well. 

1 Of.  Jaffe,  Mon.  Mog.,  167,  190, 
191 ; Mabillon,  AA.  SS.  O.  S.  B., 
iii.  2,  pp.  308-318 ; Pertz,  Mon.  Germ. 
Hist.  SS.,  xi.  84-86  (1854)  ; Ussher, 
Works  (Elrington),  iv.  324,  461-465. 
In  any  case,  the  Benedictine  editors 
of  the  Histoire  Litteraire  de  la 
France  are  a little  too  enthusiastic 


and  incautious  in  speaking  of  St. 
Virgil,  “who  was  the  first  to  discover 
the  Antipodes,”  among  the  glories  of 
the  eighth-century  Church  (iv.  pp. 
19,  26).  We  may  notice  that  Virgil’s 
theory  requires  not  only  a new  heavens 
and  a new  earth,  but  another  sun 
and  moon. 


374 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  sections  of  this  treatise 
he  attempts  a description  of  the  world.  Like  Isidore,  he 
begins  with  the  waters,  great  and  small,  from  the  ocean  to 
the  pools  left  by  rain;  secondly,  he  passes  in  review  the 
various  regions  of  the  land;  lastly,  he  discusses  in  detail 
the  natural  features  of  the  earth,  and  the  mysteries  of  pheno- 
mena— earthquakes,  “ the  depths  of  Erebus,”  and  so  forth. 

He  appears  to  accept,  like  the  more  liberal  thinkers  of 
the  early  Christian  time,  the  circular,  or  at  least  semi- 
circular, form  of  the  earth,  but  on  nearly  all  other  points 
he  only  transcribes  the  ordinary  stories,  principally  from 
Solinus,  Orosius,  and  Isidore,  and  many  of  his  ideas  are 
barely  on  a par  with  those  of  Hesiod.  Thus  in  reference 
to  the  inhabited  earth,  he  clings  to  the  notion  of  its  being 
a quadrilateral ; for  this  right-angled  shape  seems  to  him 
the  only  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  text  which  declared 
that  the  elect  should  be  “ gathered  from  the  four  winds, 
from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other.”  1 

The  last  work  that  need  be  mentioned  here  is  the  com- 
pilation of  Guido.2  The  author,  a priest  of  Ravenna,  seems 
to  have  written,  about  a.d.  850, 3 this  sketch  of  Mediterranean 
coast-lands.  Like  his  original,  the  anonymous  geographer 
of  the  same  city,  he  stops  at  the  mention  of  Ravenna  to 


1 Matt.  xxiv.  31.  Cf.  on  the 
encircling  ocean,  “De  Universo,”  xi. 
3;  the  three  continents  with  Asia 
equal  to  the  other  two,  xii.  2;  the 
walls  and  rivers  of  Paradise,  xi.  10, 
xii.  3 ; the  Caspian  communicating 

with  the  Northern  Ocean ; Jerusalem 
in  the  centre  of  the  world  ; the  ocean 
coming  up  to  the  south  of  Fezzan, 
etc. 

3 Cf.  J.  A.  Fabricius,  Biblioth. 
Lat.,  iii.,  art.  “ Guido.” 

3 Though  some  critics  have  traced 


his  origin  to  Pisa  (“  Guido  the 
Pisan  ”),  and  brought  down  his  date 
to  the  twelfth  century.  See  Bock’s 
“Lettre  sur  . . . Liber  Guidonis,” 
in  Annuaire  de  la  Bibl.  Boy.  de 
Belgique , xii.,  1851,  pp.  145-157. 
But  these  contentions  seem  very 
doubtful.  See  Avezac,  “ Le  Raven- 
nate ; ” the  edition  of  Guido  by 
Pinder  and  Parthey,  1860 ; Tira- 
boschi,  Stor.  Lett.  Ital.  III.  ii.  255, 
256 ; arts,  in  Biog.  Univ.,  and  Nouv. 
Biog.  Gen. 


VI.] 


GUIDO — MAPS  A.D.  300-900. 


375 


give  us  some  details  about  himself  and  his  time ; for  here 
I,  all  unlearned,  and  least  of  the  servants  of  Christ,  was 
brought  up,  which  town  was  once  distinguished  as  the  seat 
of  the  court,  and  is  now  illustrious  from  its  hierarchical 
dignity.” 1 

Guido  begins  with  some  words  of  praise  for  the  social 
instinct  in  man,2  which  shows  him  his  duty  to  the  world  at 
large — like  Cato  in  Lucan,  “ Nee  sibi  sed  toti  genitum  se 
credere  mundo.”3  It  is  this  feeling,  he  continues,  which 
has  led  him  to  dedicate  some  part  of  his  labour  to  the 
general  use,  and  to  describe  the  regions  of  the  coast.  Here 
and  there  he  adds  a few  notes  to  his  model.  Brundusium, 
lately  destroyed  by  Romoald  of  Beneventum ; Beneventum, 
the  famous  ducal  city ; Cassino,  celebrated  as  the  seat  of 
the  mother-house  of  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict ; — these  are 
instances  of  the  commentary  which  Guido  supplies  to  the 
catalogues  of  the  text-book  he  so  closely  follows.4  But 
throughout  his  register  he  is  chiefly  interested  in  the 
martyrs  who  to  his  mind  had  raised  the  transient  glory  of 
great  cities5  into  an  eternal  one,  and  his  attention  is  but 
seldom  arrested  by  anything  of  secular  concern. 


VI.  Maps. 


The  popular  idea  of  the  habitable  world  among  the 
subjects  of  Augustus,  of  Trajan,  and  even  of  Aurelian  and 
Diocletian,  was  naturally  much  more  confined,  simple,  and 


1 Cap.  20  (Pinder  and  Partliey). 

2 Caps.  1,  2. 

3 Lucan,  Pharsal.  ii.  383. 

4 Caps.  27-52.  “Salerno,  where 
now  rests  the  body  of  St.  Matthew ; ” 
refers  to  the  translation  of  the 
Apostle’s  relics  to  Salerno  in  954 ; so 
this  entry  must  be  of  subsequent 

date.  The  Romoald  of  text  is  prob. 


Duke  Romoald  II.  703-730. 

5  E.g.  Constantinople,  that  “ wore 
the  purple  and  diadem  of  the  world’s 
empire ; ” Athens,  once  the  “ nurse  of 
philosophers  and  orators ; ” and  “ re- 
nowned” Aquileia, which  “most  cruel 
Attila”  destroyed  (caps.  106,  110- 
117). 


376 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Oh. 


symmetrical  than  that  of  Strabo  or  of  Ptolemy.  According 
to  the  former,  the  master  of  Rome  was  literally  master  of 
the  earth  ; every  part  of  it  that  was  worth  inhabiting  was 
either  a province  of  the  Empire,  or  paid  tribute  to  the  same  ; 
Rome  and  the  ancient  world  were  one  and  the  same  thing. 
It  was  the  ambition  of  the  earlier  Caesars  to  realise  this  in 
literal  fact,  and  their  poets  and  courtiers  spoke  of  it  as  if 
already  done.  Of  the  extent  of  Asia  and  Africa,  even  in  the 
sense  of  a rough  notion  that  these  continents  were  of  con- 
siderable size,  few  indeed  had  any  idea ; most,  even  of  the 
educated  class,  firmly  believed  that  Europe  was  greater  than 
either  of  its  rivals ; and  only  with  Marinus  and  Ptolemy  was 
a different  theory  adopted  by  a powerful  school.  However 
much  the  Alexandrian  geographer  was  deceived  and  dazzled 
by  the  new  light  that  broke  on  him, — however  we  may 
wonder  at  his  notion  of  unlimited  land  to  south  and  east 
(making  of  the  Indian  Ocean  an  inland  sea,  and  filling  up 
the  Southern  Hemisphere  with  his  extension  of  Asia  and  of 
Africa),  we  cannot  forget  that  he  was  the  first  to  recognise 
something  of  the  true  bulk  (though  not  the  true  shape)  of 
the  land  surface  of  our  globe. 

Very  different  was  the  earlier  and  generally  more  popular 
system  of  Eratosthenes,  dating  from  the  time  of  the  second 
Punic  war,  which  was  really  adopted  by  Strabo,  while  he 
reviled  its  author ; by  the  men  of  letters,  whose  patriotism  it 
suited ; and  by  the  populace  who,  with  a blissful  ignorance 
of  their  real  teacher,  took  their  geography  from  the  poets,1 


1 See  Reinaud’s  masterly  treatise, 
“ Relations  de  l’Empire  Romain 
avec  l’Asie  Orientate  ” (Paris,  1863), 
especially  pp.  28, 36-39,  41-43,  51-55, 
61-75,  80-82,  140-158,  etc.  Reinaud 
devotes  himself  in  this  work  es- 
pecially to  illustrating  the  Augustan 


conception  of  the  (literally)  world- 
wide empire,  as  expounded  by  Virgil, 
Horace,  Propertius,  Tibullus,  and 
others.  This  is,  of  course,  strictly 
speaking,  anterior  to  our  subject, 
but  it  is  essentially  connected  with 
mediaeval  theories. 


IO  20  30  40  50  60  70  80  90  100  IIO 


IO  20  30  40  50  60  70  80  90  IOO  I IO 

Walker  &•  Boutall  sc. 

THE  WORLD  OP  ORDINARY  CLASSICAL  GEOGRAPHY  (AFTER  REINAUD). 

[To  face  p.  376. 


VI.] 


CLASSICAL  TRADITIONS  IN  MAP-MAKING. 


377 


the  orators,  and  the  flatterers  of  the  conrt  and. people  of 
Eome.  The  vulgar  belief,  in  the  days  of  Caesar  and  Cicero, 
had  its  scientific  basis  in  two  theories.  For  one  it  had  the 
simple  doctrines  of  Eratosthenes — of  a world  divided  in  five 
zones,  of  which  one  was  torrid,  two  temperate,  and  two  Arctic; 
nnd  of  a habitable  earth,  which  was  entirely  confined  to  the 
north  temperate  zone,  and  in  which  each  of  the  three  con- 
tinents was  conveniently  cut  short, — Europe  losing  much  of 
its  north  and  east,  Asia  far  more  in  the  same  quarters,  and 
Africa  the  whole  of  its  central  and  southern  portion.1  But, 
besides  this,  imagination  might  revel  in  the  fancies  of  Crates 
{about  160  b.c.),  who,  not  content  with  the  charge  of  the 
great  library  at  Pergamum,  added . to  the  known  world  one 
or  more  additional  continents  in  the  midst  of  the  untraversed 
ocean,  and  especially  an  Australian  or  Antipodean  world, 
peopled  by  the  Ethiopians  of  the  South.  The  possibility, 
.and  even  the  likelihood,  of  such  had  indeed  been  already 
indicated  by  Aristotle ; 2 Crates  popularised  the  old  conjec- 
ture ; and  it  seems  to  have  been  generally  admitted  by  the 
writers,  from  Virgil  to  Pliny,  who  governed  the  ideas  of 
the  educated  and  half-educated  multitude. 

Ptolemy  was  the  luxury  of  the  select  few ; the  geography 
of  the  men  who  governed  the  Roman  Empire,  who  fought  in 
its  armies,  or  taught  in  its  schools,  was,  beyond  doubt,  repre- 
sented in  the  Peutinger  Table  far  better  than  in  the  maps 
of  the  Alexandrian  geographer ; and  the  Peutinger  Table 
is  but  a convenient  exaggeration  of  the  world-scheme  of 


1 In  this  system  Europe  was  made 

equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  bulk  of  Asia 
and  Africa  together,  and  greater  than 
either  of  them  separately ; it  thus 
-covered  three-eighths  of  the  entire 
land  surface  of  the  world;  being  in 
the  proportion  of  thirteen  against 


the  eleven  of  Asia,  and  the  eight  of 
Africa. 

2 Meteorologica,  ii.  5,  §§  10,  11. 
See  the  dissertation  of  M.  Charles 
Jourdain,  “ De  l’lnfluence  d’Aristote 
. . . sur  la  Decouverte  du  Nouveau 
Monde”  (1861). 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


878 

Eratosthenes ; where  the  Ganges  marks  the  Furthest  East, 
and  the  Sahara  Desert  the  Furthest  South ; and  where  the 
provinces  of  the  Empire  cover  the  greater  part  of  term  firma. 
It  is  this  system,  either  with  or  without  the  additions  of 
Aristotle  and  Crates,  which  is  the  true  basis  of  the  higher 
mediaeval  geography  from  the  time  of  its  revival  in  the 
crusading  period.  Neither  Ptolemy,  nor  Cosmas,  nor  the 
Arab  geographers  (so  far  as  they  professed  any  distinctive 
scheme  or  chart),  ever  quite  displaced  the  system  we  have 
outlined  among  the  deeper  students  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Not  that  they  always  followed  it ; still  less  that  they  always 
understood  it : but  dim  or  clear,  it  was  the  centre  of  their 
truer  theories,  the  life  of  all  in  their  geography  that  was  not 
simply  mythical. 

No  one  can  take  up  any  of  the  works  which  fairly 
represent  the  scientific  element  in  the  geography  even  of 
the  earlier  Christian  centuries,  without  seeing  the  truth 
of  this;  without  tracing  back,  as  already  suggested,  the 
common  original  of  the  more  enlightened  Christian  geo- 
graphers (through  the  Peutinger  Table,  and  the  other 
“Painted  Worlds”  now  lost  to  us),1  to  the  work  of  Eratos- 
thenes in  the  third  century  before  our  era.  In  the  specula- 
tions of  Virgil  upon  another  world  beneath  our  own,  we 
have  an  exact  revival  of  the  “Australian  theory,”  which 
had  sprung  from  the  older  Greek  speculation;  and  there 
are  few  indeed  of  the  “ Latin  ” geographers,  truly  deserving 
of  that  name,  whether  in  the  Roman  Empire  or  in  the 
Roman  Church,  who  do  not  follow  the  definitions  of  the 
school  of  Eratosthenes  in  the  main  features  of  their  descrip- 
tions or  designs.  Teacher  and  disciples  alike  place  India 
and  the  African  Desert  at  the  extremes  of  East  and  South ; 
in  both,  the  habitable  earth  lies  like  an  island  in  the  midst 


1 Pliny,  H.  N.  iii.  3. 


VI.]  CLASSICAL  TRADITIONS  IN  MAP-MAKING.  379 

of  an  encircling  ocean ; in  both,  the  Caspian  is  an  inlet  of 
the  Northern  Sea,  and  Scandinavia  an  island  to  the  north 
of  Germany.  Only  two  survivals,  as  we  have  said,  actually 
remain  to  ns  from  the  map-science  of  the  Old  Empire — 
the  Peutinger  Table,  and  the  plans  which  illustrate  the 
geography  of  Ptolemy ; 1 but  there  are  at  least  ten  classical 
references  to  other  works  of  a similar  kind,  mostly  in  the 
nature  of  pictorial  descriptions  of  the  Roman  world,  or  of 
particular  provinces  of  the  same,  authorised  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  set  up  for  the  instruction  of  the  citizens  in  public 
places  of  the  capital  or  other  great  cities.2  Every  one  of 
these  has  perished,  so  far  as  they  are  not  embodied  in  the 
two  relics  that  time  has  spared ; and  scarcely  a trace  of  their 
influence  is  to  be  seen  in  the  cartography  of  the  earlier 
Middle  Ages.  Reasoning  from  what  we  possess  to  what  we 
have  lost,  we  may  assume  that  these  classical  maps,  what- 
ever their  faults  in  delineation  of  outline,  possessed  at  least 
one  redeeming  quality  — fulness,  and  even  vastness,  of 
information ; and  this  is  precisely  what  is  wanting  in  the 
sketches  of  the  Christian  period  before  the  crusades. 

Miserable  indeed  was  the  state  of  map-science  in  the 
centuries  whose  geography  has  occupied  our  attention  so 
far;  if  we  judge  it,  as  we  must,  from  the  examples  that 
have  survived.p  In  all,  these  examples  (of  the  sixth,  seventh, 


1 Ascribed  to  a draughtsman  named 
Agathodsemon,  whom  some  ( e.g . Lele- 
wel  and  Marinelli)  conjecture  to 
have  lived  in  the  Byzantine  period, 
say  about  a.d.  450;  but  who  more 
probably  executed  these  plans  under 
the  Pagan  Empire,  if  he  was  not  an 
alias  for  Ptolemy  himself. 

2 The  ten  references  in  question 
are : (1)  In  Varro,  “De  Re  Rustica,” 
i.  2.  (2,  3)  Propertius,  “Elegies,” 


iv.  11  ; v.  3.  (4)  Vitruvius,  Archi- 

tect. viii.  2,  6,  etc.  (5)  Eumenius 
of  Autun,  “Oratio  pro  instaurandis 
scholis,”  chs.  20,  21.  (6)  Suetonius, 

“Domitian,”  ch.  10.  (7,  8)  Pliny, 

“Natural  History,”  iii.  3,  17;  vi. 
139.  (9)  Ovid,  “ Pontic  Epistles,”  II. 
i.  37,  etc.  (10)  Lampridius,  “Life 
of  Alexander  Severus,”  ch.  45.  All 
these  are  non-Christian  and  pre-Con- 
stantinian;  the  similar  references 


380 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


eighth,  and  ninth  centuries)  cannot  be  estimated  as  more 
than  nine  in  number:  the  plans  of  Cosmas  (reckoned  as 
one,  and  only  one,  mappe-monde,  as  his  sketches  merely 
represent  this  single  world-conception  from  various  points  of 
view)  ; the  map  of  Albi ; the  “ Image  of  the  World,”  in  the 
(?)  ninth-century  Sallust  at  Leipzig ; the  similar  “ Imago 
Mundi  rotunda,”  at  Strassburg ; the  three  sketches  of  the 
world-circles,  or  climates,  in  the  Paris  manuscript  of  St. 
Isidore’s  “ Book  of  Wheels,”  of  about  a.d.  900 ; the  plani- 
sphere, in  a ninth-century  manuscript  at  Leyden ; and  the 
plan  inserted  by  Santarem  in  his  Atlas,1  from  a Madrid 
manuscript  of  the  same  century.  With  this  our  meagre 
list  must  come  to  an  end.  For  not  even  the  earliest 
surviving  specimen  of  the  “ Beatus  Maps  ” — that  in  the* 
possession  of  Lord  Ashburnham  at  Battle — can  really  be 
assigned  to  so  early  a date.2 

Some  hasty  theorists  have  imagined  that  other  maps 
of  this  time  must  have  existed;  supposing  the  peripli,  or 
coasting  records,  of  Roman  traders  and  navigators,  to  have 
been  accompanied  by  coast  charts.  But  these  peripli,  so 
far  as  known,  were  simply  sailing  directions  and  nothing 
more,  not  drawn  but  written;  and  whatever  designs  of  a 
cartographical  nature  the  Old  World  may  have  had  for  the 
help  of  its  mariners,  we  have  no  warrant  for  assuming  the 
existence  of  such  coast  charts,  as  we  have  for  believing  in 
the  reality  of  many  lost  road-maps,  such  as  the  magnificent 
specimen  that  Conrad  Peutinger  brought  to  light  in  1507. 

We  have  pointed  out  already  that  the  plans  inserted 
in  the  Florentine  manuscript  of  Cosmas  are  probably  of  the 


of  Yegetius,  in  liis  “Epitoma  Rei 
Militaris”  (iii.  6),  addressed  to  Valen- 
tinian  II.  about  a.d.  380;  and  of 
Cassiodorus  in  his  “Letter  to  the 


Monks”  (De  Inst.  Div.  Script.),  fall 
within  the  Christian  period. 

1 Sheet  IV.,  No.  II. 

2 1.e.  earlier  than  the  tenth  century. 


ZLfI 


cjjoe 


THE  WORLD  ACCORDING  TO  THE  NINTH  [OR  TENTH?]  CENTURY  MAP-SKETCH  IN  SALLUST 

MS.  AT  LEIPSIC. 


[To  face  p.  380. 


VI.] 


MAPS  OF  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  PERIOD. 


381 


author’s  own  designing  in  the  sixth  century,  and  have  been 
considered  by  many  as  the  oldest  of  Christian  maps.  There 
is,  however,  one  of  still  earlier  date  requiring  notice  in 
this  place, — that  famous  example  which,  although  in  the 
main  of  the  Augustan  period,  was  probably  revised  and 
reissued  several  times,  in  the  second,  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
centuries — under  Theodosius,  according  to  one  tradition; 
under  the  Antonines,  or  under  Valens,  according  to  recent 
surmise, — and  which  may  be  claimed,  in  a secondary  sense, 
as  belonging  to  our  subject.  This  claim  is  made  a little 
more  specious  by  the  fact  that  the  Peutinger  Table  (for 
it  is  this  which  is  here  in  question)  was  undoubtedly  put 
into  its  present  shape  by  a monk  of  Colmar  in  1265,  and 
is  thus,  as  we  have  it,  mediaeval,  or  at  least  mediae valised. 
Yet  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  table  is  essentially 
a map  of  the  pagan  world — a touchstone,  as  it  has  been 
called,  of  ancient  geography ; that  the  Christian  and 
mediaeval  accretions  are  trifling  and  superficial ; and  that 
even  irt  our  present  copy  we  have  a pretty  faithful  repro- 
duction of  a road-map,  designed  to  give  a view  of  the  Roman 
Empire  and  the  outside  world,  about  the  time  of  Augustus. 

This  being  so,  we  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  it  at  any 
length.  Like  the  maps  of  Ptolemy,  it  is  in  spirit,  if  not  in 
letter,  almost  entirely  pre-Christian,  and  therefore  beyond 
the  scope  of  this  inquiry ; but,  without  taking  an  unfair 
advantage  of  the  interpolations  which  connect  it  with  the 
fifth  or  the  thirteenth  century — such  as  the  desert  where 
the  children  of  Israel  wandered  forty  years,  the  mountain 
where  they  received  the  Law,  or  Mount  Olivet — we  may 
briefly  indicate  the  main  features  of  the  table.  It  gives 
a view  of  the  world  under  twelve  divisions,1  from  Britain 

1 Of  which  the  first  (the  most  I tain)  is  much  mutilated  and  almost 
westerly,  including  Spain  and  Bri-  | destroyed.  Cf.  edit,  of  Desjardins, 


382 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Cii. 


to  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges  in  the  Eastern  Ocean,  drawn 
out  in  a greatly  elongated  and  distorted  form,  which  form 
is  obviously  adopted  as  a convenient  way  of  displaying  the 
principal  lines  of  route.  On  this  plan  (somewhat  similar 
in  shape  to  the  Bayeux  tapestry)  are  laid  down,  not  only  the 
roads  of  the  Empire  with  their  stations,  but  also  three  classes 
of  illustrations.  The  smaller  towns  are  depicted  by  little 
houses,  the  greater — Rome,  Constantinople,  Antioch,  and 
Alexandria — by  vignettes  or  medallions;  three  forest  dis- 
tricts, two  in  Germany  and  one  in  Syria,  are  represented 
by  sketches  of  trees.  The  general  appearance  of  the  map 
is  probably  due  to  its  original — one  of  those  “ painted 
worlds  ” which  we  know  to  have  been  set  up  in  Rome  under 
Augustus,  as  by  Yipsanius  Agrippa  in  the  Portico  of 
Octavia,1  and  which  may  have  resulted  from  the  survey 
of  the  provinces  ascribed  by  tradition  to  Julius  Caesar.2 
Such  public  tables  were  corrected  from  time  to  time  as 
high  official  authorities,  and  even  used  for  the  instruction 
or  confusion  of  youth ; on  the  other  hand,  private  map- 
making was  discouraged.3 


1869-1874  (unfinished);  of  Konrad 
Miller,  1888;  and  the  Studies  of 
Ruelens  (Brussels  Institute  of  Geo- 
graphy, 1884)  and  of  Bryan  Walker 
(Cambridge  Antiq.  Soc.  Communics., 
vol.  v.  pp.  237-264—1881-1884).  Also 
cf.  Avezac,  Le  Ravennate. 

1 Pliny,  H.  N.,  iii.  2,  s.  3,  sect.  17 ; 
iv.  12,  s.  25,  sect.  81. 

2 JEthicus,  Cosmography,  pref. 

3 Cf.  Propertius  (v.  3,  37),  who 
was  himself  a sufferer  from  this  kind 
of  instruction;  and  Eumenius,  the 
orator  (“  Oratio  pro  Instaurandis 
Scholis,”  cc.  20,  21),  who  advises 
(a.d.  298)  that  boys  should  be  made 
to  study  geography  from  the  Portico 
pictures,  and  refers  especially  to  one 


at  Autun.  The  same  Eumenius,  in 
addressing  Constantius  Chlorus,  the 
father  of  the  great  Constantine,  ex- 
patiates on  the  delight  with  which 
a Roman  ought  to  look  upon  such 
a mappe-monde,  as  he  would  see 
thereon  nothing  but  regions  subject 
to  him,  or  in  alliance  with  him  (nihil 
alienum) : “Panegyrici  Veteres,”  i. 
254;  Reinaud,“  Relations  de  l’Empire 
Romain  avec  l’Asie  Orientale,”  pp. 
254,  255.  On  the  other  side,  Sue- 
tonius (Domitian,  10)  tells  us  how 
Metianus  Pomposianus  was  charged 
with  having  in  his  own  possession  a 
map  of  the  world  depicted  on  parch- 
ment—a capital  offence  in  the  time 
of  Domitian. 


VI.] 


THE  PEUTINGEB  TABLE. 


383 


Except  for  a very  few  instances,  where  the  interpolation 
may  be  easily  traced,  there  is  nothing  in  the  Peutinger 
map  which  has  any  reference  to  a time  later  than  Diocletian ; 
and  the  greater  number  of  the  names  it  contains  may  be 
referred  to  an  era  earlier  than  the  death  of  Augustus  in 
a.d.  14.1  The  arrangement  of  the  barbarian  tribes  on  the 
frontiers  of  the  Empire  seems  to  agree  pretty  nearly  with 
what  we  know  of  them  in  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius ; and 
the  importance  of  the  name  of  Persia,  for  instance,  in  the  far 
East,  perhaps  points  to  a revision  of  this  part  of  the  table 
as  late  as  the  third  century,  at  some  time  subsequent  to  the 
great  Persian  revival  of  a.d.  226 : but  these  details  leave 
the  essential  character  of  the  plan  strictly  classical.  Recent 
conjectures  have  assigned  the  final  arrangement  of  the  table 
to  the  mysterious  Castorius,  whom  we  only  know  as  the 
alleged  source  of  most  of  the  facts  and  figures  in  the  anony- 
mous geographer  of  Ravenna.2  The  references  of  various 
authors  of  the  fourth  century — Yegetius,  Lampridius,3  St. 
Ambrose,  and  St.  Hilary  of  Poictiers — to  pictorial  itineraries 
of  their  time,  have  been  pressed  into  the  service  of  this 
theory,  which,  however,  stops  short  of  assigning  a Christian 
authorship  to  the  table,  though  bringing  its  composition 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century. 

A work  which  contains  nearly  six  hnndred  notices  of 
heathen  temples  and  worship  could  hardly  come  as  a whole 
from  a Christian  hand,  though,  as  we  have  pointed  out, 
some  notes  have  undoubtedly  been  added  by  a Christian 
reviser,  just  as  certain  others  (for  example,  the  mention  of 


1 So  concludes  Desjardins  (p.  79), 
speaking  more  narrowly  of  Gaul. 

2 Of.  Miller,  Die  Weltkarte  des 
Castorius  (1888),  which  strives  to 
discredit  the  connection  between  the 

Augustan  maps  and  the  table  (p.  67), 


and  to  fix  the  date  of  Castorius  to 
a.d.  365-6,  in  the  reigns  of  Valen- 
tinian  and  Yalens,  whom  Miller 
thinks  the  three  chief  medallions 
commemorate. 

3  Life  of  Alex.  Severus,  ch.  45. 


384 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


“ Jerusalem,  which  is  now  Elia  ”)  prove  the  workmanship  of 
a redactor  in  the  latter  days  of  the  pagan  empire,  between 
Hadrian  and  Constantine. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  plans  inserted  in  the  Florentine 1 
manuscript  of  Cosmas  are,  if  genuinely  drawn  by  the  author 
of  the  topography  himself,  the  oldest  known  examples  of 
Christian  maps — of  those,  at  least,  which  are  not  mere  re- 
issues of  pagan  originals.  On  the  whole,  it  is  probable 
that  these  sketches  were  really  drawn  by  the  “learned 
writer  ” when  he  “ set  down  his  excommunication ; ” but 
even  as  they  stand  in  manuscript,  they  are  certainly  older 
than  anything  of  their  kind,2  except  the  mappe-monde  of 
Albi. 

They  consist,  as  will  be  seen  by  a reference  to  their 
reproductions  in  this  volume,  firstly,  of  five  sketches  of  the 
universe,  drawn  especially  to  illustrate  the  great  mountain 
in  the  north  of  the  world,  the  heavens  above  and  below  the 
firmament,  and  the  course  of  sun  and  moon ; and,  secondly, 
of  two  delineations  of  the  earth’s  surface,  the  encircling 
ocean  and  the  patriarchal  world  beyond.  One  of  these  is 
a mere  outline  of  general  features;  but  the  other  forms, 
though  roughly,  a true  mappe-monde.  In  this  the  Mediter- 
ranean is  drawn  with  much  greater  fidelity  than  we  find  in 
any  Christian  work  before  true  surveying  began  with  the 
Portolani  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Black  Sea  and 
Propontis  are  both  recognisable,  though  less  successful  than 
the  main  part  of  the  inland  or  “ Roman  ” water ; the  Caspian, 
Red  Sea,  and  Persian  Gulf  are  depicted  as  three  inlets  from 
the  ocean,  running  due  north  and  south;  and  the  three 
rivers  of  Nile,  Euphrates,  and  Tigris  all  appear  as  coming 
through  from  the  outer  earth,  into  Babylonia  and  Egypt,  by 
passages  beneath  the  ocean.  The  earth,  like  the  ocean  and 

1 Ninth  century.  2 I.e.  Christian  maps. 


THE  WORLD-MAP  OP  COSMAS. 


[To  face  p.  384 


VI.] 


THE  MAPS  OF  COSMAS ; AND  OF  ALBI. 


385 


the  antediluvian  land,  is  absolutely  right-angled ; and  in 
Paradise,  beyond  the  east  wind  (which  is  portrayed  blowing 
its  trumpet  towards  the  Euphrates),  are  depicted  ten  great 
lakes  or  fountains  of  waters,  from  which  spring  the  rivers  of 
•our  world. 

The  other  plans  in  the  “ Christian  Topography  ” have  not 
much  bearing  on  geography.  Most  of  them  are  occupied 
with  Old  Testament  subjects,  or  with  the  animals  of  India.1 
But  two  are  devoted  to  the  problems  of  the  Zodiac,  the 
Heavenly  bodies  and  the  Antipodes.  In  the  last  example, 
four  men  are  drawn  standing  feet  to  feet,  in  scorn  of  a 
doctrine  so  repugnant  to  common  sense  as  that  of  a round 
world. 

In  the  library  of  Albi,  in  Languedoc,  exists  the  earliest 
mappe-monde  which  has  actually  come  down  to  us  from 
this  period.  It  occurs  in  a manuscript  of  the  eighth  century, 
and  is  designed  to  illustrate  the  cosmography  of  Julius 
Honorius  and  of  Orosius ; but  it  is  a mere  sketch,  very 
poorly  executed,  with  many  bad  mistakes.2  The  connection 


1 In  this  connection  we  may  notice 
that  while  the  giraffe,  or  camelo- 
pard, the  lion,  the  elephant,  the  tor- 
toise, and  the  dolphin  are  fairly  well 
represented,  the  rhinoceros,  hippo- 
potamus, and  seal  (phoca)  are  gro- 
tesque. 

2 Thus  Judea  appears  on  the  south 
of  the  Mediterranean,  Antioch  to  the 
south-east  of  Jerusalem,  Crete  to  the 
North  of  Cyprus,  Sardinia  to  the  north 
of  Corsica,  the  Ganges  in  the  south 
of  Africa.  The  west  wind  (zephyr) 
is  turned  into  a south  wind;  the 
Caspian  is  an  inlet  from  the  Northern 
Ocean.  Sicily  is  sharply  four-cor- 
nered ; and  Britain,  about  the  size  of 
Corsica,  lies  close  off  the  north-west 
of  Spain.  Spain  and  France  together 


form  a single  peninsula.  The  Red 
Sea,  Persian  Gulf,  Black  Sea,  and 
Caspian  (all  coloured  green  like  the 
Rhine,  Rhone,  Nile,  etc.)  are  made 
parallel,  with  a general  direction 
from  north  to  south;  the  Red  Sea 
and  Persian  Gulf  are  exactly  opposite 
to  the  Euxine  and  Caspian.  The 
habitable  world  is  pictured  as  an 
oblong,  rounded  at  the  corners,  and 
surrounded  by  the  ocean;  but  it  is 
really  confined  to  the  Mediterranean 
lands,  or  the  area  of  the  old  Empire, 
and  Asia  is  reduced  to  a fringe  of 
land  on  the  east  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Yet  though  so  strictly 
Roman  in  plan,  Italy  is  very  bar- 
barously drawn.  India,  Media  and 
Babylonia  appear  all  together  along 

2 c 


386 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


which  some  have  imagined  between  this  and  the  map  of 
Cosmas  will  not  bear  investigation.  Yet,  poor  though  it  is, 
the  Albi  map  as  it  stands  is  the  unaltered  work  of  the  time 
of  Bede  and  Charles  Martel  (c.  a.d.  730),  and,  accordingly, 
venerable  as  the  oldest  geographical  monument  of  Latin  or 
Western  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

Six  other  map  sketches,  of  small  importance,  and  all 
apparently  of  the  ninth  century,  were  long  ago  unearthed 
from  the  recesses  of  great  libraries  by  the  diligence  of 
Santarem.  Three  of  these,  two  of  them  planispheres,  one, 
after  the  xlrab  fashion,  showing  the  south  at  the  top,  occur 
in  a single  manuscript  at  Paris;  one,  from  the  library  of 
Roda,  in  Aragon,  is  now  at  Madrid ; the  last  two  are  to  be 
found  at  Strassburg  and  Leyden  respectively.1  None  of 
these  present  any  features  of  interest ; except  perhaps  that, 
in  the  Spanish  example,  Asia  appears  as  greater  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  world  together ; while,  in  the  Strassburg  map, 
the  encircling  ocean  is  drawn  in  Homeric  and  “ Cosmic  ” 
fashion  as  a sort  of  river  between  inner  and  outer  belts  of 
land.2 


Once  more,  some  notice  must  be  taken  of  maps  which 
have  now  perished,  but  which  we  know  to  have  been 
executed  before  the  close  of  the  ninth  century.  And  about 
one  of  these  lost  representations  of  an  incredibly  contracted 
world  there  is  an  especial  interest. 


the  eastern  boundary  of  the  map, 
where  the  Tigris  and  Phison 
(?  Ganges,  see  p.  391,  n.)  suggest 
an  Oriental  Paradise  which  is  not 
expressly  indicated.  The  Nile,  we 
may  notice,  joins  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
Mediterranean ; Mount  Sinai  is  de- 
signated by  a huge  triangle,  and  all 
the  people  of  Northern  Europe  are 
included  in  Gothia.  Perhaps  the 
closest  parallel  to  the  Albi  example 
(though  far  superior)  is  the  Anglo- 


Saxon  map  of  the  tenth  century,  in 
the  British  Museum  (Cotton,  Tib. 
B.  v.).  The  manuscript  is  numbered 
29,  and  entitled  “ Miscellanea,  scilicet 
Dictionarium  Glosse  in  Evangelia.” 
The  map  is  on  folio  487. 

1 We  have  reproduced  all  these 
from  Santarem’s  atlas. 

2 See  Bibl.  Nat.  (Paris)  MSS.  Lat. 
4860 ; Strassburg  MSS.  civ.  (15) ; 
Leyden  Lat.  MSS.  Voss.  Q.  29. 


-?>/'  ^"vcrowf 

cxlvX'  ,*y. 

-Xte'ob&r  ‘^Pow^ru&l^m 

majtT  Go\cpTk&  ftedAeew' 
^ A XVAve  ~N  t M 4/  V 


^ AttumtiA/ 

JflACid  O'  r^rxx 

loorbit' 

feytn&na^  C vvt>p^ 


IPenrapotir 

A/JVi*^  CA'Y&gO 

At  a v^v'xtx  ? 

* 


Wv&.w* 


MAPPE  MONDE  FEOM  A MS.  OF  THE  NINTH  CENTURY,  IN  THE: 
LIBRARY  AT  STRASSBURG. 


[To  face  p.  386, 


VI.] 


LOST  MAPS — THE  MAP  OF  BEATUS. 


387 


The  sketches  of  Cosmas  and  of  Albi  are  isolated'  works ; 
it  is  in  Spain,  in  the  early  days  of  Moslem  rule  and  in  the 
heat  of  the  Adoptionist  controversy,  that  the  original  is 
probably  to  be  found  of  the  first  important  group  or  school 
of  Christian  maps.  The  priest  Beatns,  who  in  the  year  798 
died  in  the  Benedictine  convent  of  Yallecava  or  Yalcovado 
in  the  Asturias,  and  who  opposed  Felix  of  Ur  gel  and  his 
followers  on  the  question  of  the  “ adoption  ” 1 of  Christ  in 
the  Godhead,  has  been  identified  with  much  plausibility 
as  the  draughtsman  of  that  plan  which  is  the  common 
source  of  the  maps  of  St.  Sever,  Turin,  Ashburnham,  and 
seven  others  of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages,  executed  at  various 
times  between  the  tenth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  but  all  de- 
pending on  a Spanish- Arabic  prototype  of  the  eighth.  This 
prototype,  however,  appeared  anonymously  in  a commentary 
on  the  Apocalypse,  which  has  been  fixed  by  internal  and 
external  criticism  to  a date  in  or  near  the  year  776.  The 
friends  and  enemies  of  Beatns  in  the  Adoptionist  quarrel, 
Fidelis2  his  abbot,3  Queen  Adosinda4  his  penitent  and 
patroness,  Etherius  his  ally,  Elipandus 5 his  opponent  in  the 
theological  strife,  are  all  well-known  figures  in  the  Spanish 
history  of  the  time.  He  is  connected  by  one  tradition  with 
the  more  famous  Alcuin,  as  master  with  scholar ; and  at 
any  rate  he  shares  with  his  celebrated  pupil  the  episcopal 
abuse  of  Elipandus,  as  an  obscure  “hill-man”  and  cave- 
dweller,  a " babbling  denizen  of  the  woods,”  an  “ instructor 


1 As  contrasted  with  his  eternal  | 
and  inalienable  right  therein. 

2 A curious  coincidence  with  the 

(?  Irish)  traveller  Fidelis,  who  must 
have  lived  at  this  very  time.  But  the 
name  is  common  enough,  like  that  of 
Deusdedit,  or  Beatus  himself.  Six 
instances  are  pointed  out  by  Letronne 

in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  (Feb.  iii.  147 ; 

March  iii.  907;  June  i.  264, 376,  633; 


June  ii.  666). 

3  Of  St.  John  of  Pravia,  near 
Oviedo. 

^ Wife  of  King  Silo  (774-783). 

5 Archbishop  of  Toledo.  Beatus 
by  one  account  was  a deaf-mute.  (See 
J.  Maria  de  Eguren,  Descriptive 
Memorial  of  Spanish  MSS.,  Madrid, 
1859 ; and  Cortambert  in  Bulletin 
Soc.  Geog.,  Paris,  1877,  pp.  337-363.) 


388 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


of  brutish  beasts,”  a “forest  donkey,”  and  the  like.  His 
friends,  on  the  other  hand,  though  declaring  that  his  life 
bore  out  to  the  full  his  title  of  Saint,  are  less  explicit  than 
could  be  wished  about  his  scientific  attainments ; and  the 
possibility  still  remains  open  that  another  hand  may  have 
supplied  the  map  to  that  commentary,  which  is  in  all 
likelihood  the  work  of  Beatus.1  All  this,  however,  is  but  of 
small  importance ; as  the  original  has  not  survived,  and  we 
only  possess  derivatives  belonging  to  a period  subsequent 
to  the  ninth  century.  Of  these  we  intend  to  give  an  account 
in  the  second  section  of  this  history,  under  the  period  which 
we  may  call  that  of  the  Vikings  and  the  Crusaders,  from 
the  tenth  century  of  our  era. 

Two  other  notices  of  lost  maps,  both  of  the  Karling 
period  and  of  the  eighth  century,  have  a certain  interest. 
For  one,  Bishop  Theodulf  of  Orleans  (788-821)  speaks  of 
himself  as  having  painted  a picture  of  the  world  upon  a 
wall  of  his  house ; and  in  obscure  verses  describes  this  map. 
Like  Alcuin,2  he  seems  to  have  divided  the  habitable  earth 
into  the  three  parts  of  Europe,  Africa,  and  the  Indies. 
Like  Ptolemy,  he  declares  himself  in  some  of  his  expressions 
in  favour  of  a fixed  and  immovable  world;  but  in  other 
places  he  uses  language  very  inconsistent  with  this  belief. 

Once  more,  the  celebrated  “ librarian  ” Anastasius  tells 
us  how  Pope  Zacharias — the  same  pontiff  who  helped  the 
Karling  Dynasty  to  the  Frankish  Throne,  and  stamped  out 
the  geographical  heresies  of  Virgil — had  had  a mappe- 
monde  designed  for  his  own  use.  In  one  of  the  chambers 
of  the  Lateran  Palace,  this  great  churchman  caused  to  be 
painted  a representation  of  the  world,  ornamented  with 


1 Cf.  its  dedication  to  Etherius  ; 

and  see  Miller,  “ Weltkarte  des 
Beatus,”  pp.  1-9;  Cortambert  (as 


above). 

2 See  Bishop  Theodulf,  “Cantina,” 
iii. ; Alcuin,  “Carmina,”  xiii. 


LOST  MAPS  OF  THIS  PERIOD. 


389 


VI.] 


descriptive  verses  or  titles  : the  reputation  of  Zacharias 
stood  high  for  scholarly  attainments,  as  for  ecclesiastical 
policy;  of  Greek  origin  himself,  he  was  well  acquainted 
with  a language  that  was  now  almost  forgotten,  hut  still 
reverenced  in  the  West ; and  in  spite  (or  even  because)  of 
his  strong  objections  to  Antipodes,  he  may  have  found 
pleasure  in  having  before  his  eyes  a world-picture  of  an 
orthodox  pattern.1 

We  have  also  to  regret  the  loss  of  a map  of  this  period 
even  more  interesting  than  that  of  the  Beatus  commentary. 
Einhardt,  in  his  “ Life  of  Charles  the  Great,”  tells  us  about 
certain  wonders  of  the  emperor’s  library.  Among  these 
were  three  tables  of  silver  and  one  of  gold.  On  one  of  the 
former  there  was  portrayed  the  “entire  circuit  of  the 
earth,”  divided  into  the  three  continents  ; on  the  other  two 
were  planned  out  the  cities  of  Rome  and  Constantinople. 

In  that  time  it  was  hazardous  to  make  the  precious 
metals  a vehicle  for  art  or  science ; and  in  the  war  of  842, 
the  precious  silver  table  was  broken  up  and  divided  among 
the  soldiers.2 

A similar  design,  but  of  a ruder  kind,  was  prepared,  “ with 
subtle  labour,”  at  the  monastery  of  St.  Gall,  about  870 ; 3 
but  nothing  can  be  heard  of  it  in  after-days,  and  we  do  not 
know  (though  we  may  suspect)  that  this  and  the  last- 
named  plan  were  in  any  way  connected  with  the  Peutinger 
Table,  or  some  of  the  other  ancient  designs  which  fed  the 
expiring  flame  of  geographical  science  in  Christendom. 

There  remain  a few  yet  more  obscure  allusions  to  lost 
maps  of  these  ages.  Thus  Vegetius,  in  his  epitome  of 


1  “Orbis  Terrarum  descriptionem 
depinxit  atque  versiculis  ornavit.” 

See  Santarem,  “Essai  sur  Cosmo- 
graphie,”  ii.  23,  24;  Andres,  “Dell’ 
origine  . . . d’ogni  litteratura,”  vol. 

iii.  ch.  2. 


2 Einhardt,  ch.  33;  Col.  edit,  of 
1521,  p.  41.  See  Lelewel,  Geog.,  i.  9. 

3 Ratpert,  De  Casis  Monasterii  S. 
G-alli,  c.  10.  See  Miller,  “ Die  Welt- 
karte  des  Castorius/’ 


390 


GEOGRAPHICAL  THEORY. 


[Ch. 


Matters  Military ,*  addressed  to  Yalentinian  II.  about  a.d.  380, 
refers  to  a plan  then  in  existence,  which  is  probably  different 
from  the  Peutinger  Table,  though  a work  of  much  the  same 
kind  ; Cassiodorus,  under  Theodoric  the  Great,  the  barbarian 
restorer  of  Italian  civilisation,  expressly  mentions  one 
Dionysius1 2  as  the  author  of  a table  which  seems  to  have 
contained,  like  that  of  “ Peutinger,”  a map  of  the  Empire 
and  the  known  world  of  that  time ; similar  language  is  used 
by  St.  Ambrose  and  St.  Hilary  of  Poictiers ; and  the  Eaven- 
nese  geographer  himself  claims  to  have  designed  “with 
wondrous  skill  ” a picture  of  all  the  lands  that  he  described. 
On  this  last  in  particular,  much  ingenious  conjecture  has 
been  spent.  Granted  that  Vegetius  and  Cassiodorus  are 
thinking  of  plans  more  or  less  closely  resembling  the 
lengthened  oblong  of  the  Peutinger  Table,  yet  the  map  of 
the  Eavennese,  if  it  was  ever  really  executed,  must  have 
been  very  different  from  these,  answering  to  the  anonymous 
geographer’s  written  descriptions.  Was  it,  then,  round, 
square,  oval,  or  of  what  other  shape  ? Was  it  planned  from 
a centre  at  Jerusalem,  Constantinople,  or  Eavenna  itself? 
Or  was  it,  after  all,  only  the  work  of  the  Castorius  whom 
the  Eavennese  so  constantly  quotes,  and  who  was  probably 
the  compiler  of  a pictorial  itinerary  of  the  classical  pattern  ? 
It  does  not  seem  worth  while  to  enter  upon  a long  discussion 
of  a design  which  may  never  have  existed  at  all,  and  we 
shall  content  ourselves  with  indicating  a preference  for 
the  oval  and  Eavenna-centred  reconstruction  of  Avezac.3 


1 iii.  6. 

2 ?Periegetes. 

3 Which  is  here  reproduced  with 
some  modifications.  (See  Rav.  i.  18.) 
Kiepert  has  given,  in  Pinder  and 
Parthey’s  edition  of  the  Ravennese, 
a circular  restoration,  with  Jeru- 


salem in  the  centre ; Marinelli 
(“  Erdkunde,”  71-74)  has  argued 
very  skilfully  for  a middle  point 
at  Constantinople ; while  Lelewel 
believes  (Geog.  i.  6,  86)  that  the 
map  of  the  Ravennese  was  right- 
angled. 


THE  WORLD- SYSTEM  OP  THE  RAVENNESE  GEOGRAPHER. 


VL] 


SCATTERED  ALLUSIONS  TO  LOST  MAPS, 


391 


Lastly,  we  may  notice  an  attempt,  apparent  from  the  map- 
sketches  of  this  time,  to  reconcile  the  contradictory  language 
of  Scripture  on  the  circuit  of  the  earth  and  the  four  corners 
of  the  same , by  the  device  of  a T within  an  0 ; which  also 
indicated  in  a convenient  manner  the  division  of  continents. 
This  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Madrid  sketch-map,  and  in  the 
Strassburg  example  within  our  period,  as  well  as  on  innu- 
merable plans  of  later  date ; for,  as  Dati  said — 

“UnT  dentro  aunO  mostra  il  disegno 
Come  in  tre  parte  fu  diviso  il  mondo.”  1 

It  may  seem  that  an  exaggerated  attention  has  been 
given,  in  this  review  of  geographical  science  within  the  early 
mediaeval  world,  to  the  Europe  of  the  first  six  centuries  after 
the  triumph  of  Christianity  ; but  it  is  of  no  little  consequence 
to  us  whether  the  theories  in  question  were  right  or  wrong, 
sensible  or  senseless,  profound  or  ridiculous.  In  any  case, 
they  had  an  immense  and  a long-continued  influence  upon 
human  thought ; men  suffered  and  even  died  for  daring  to 
oppose  the  beliefs  that  now  were  being  consolidated  ; and  it 
is  not  of  small  importance  whether  man’s  views  of  the  world 
that  he  inhabits  were  such  as  to  cramp  his  energies  and 
terrorise  his  mind,  or  the  reverse. 

ADDITIONAL  NOTE  TO  PAGE  386. 

The  Phison  is  identified  with  the  Ganges  by  Augustine  De  Gen.  ad  litt. 
viii.  7 ; by  J erome,  Epistle  iv. ; by  Ambrose,  De  Paradis,  c.  3 ; as  by  Josephus, 
Ant.  I.  i.  § 3.  So  apparently  most  of  the  Fathers.  But  Philostorgius  thinks 
it  the  Hydaspes  ; Severian  of  Gabala,  the  Danube  ; Epiphanius  concludes  it 
is  Ganges  and  Indus  together  (Ancor.  e.  58). 


1 Dati,  “ Sphera,”  iii.  11. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


NON-CHRISTIAN  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES- 

The  Christian  geography,  whose  development  — or  degra- 
dation— we  have  been  watching,  often  appears  as  if  it  were 
an  outcome  of  a dying  world ; yet  the  time  was  not  without 
some  clear  signs  of  a new  and  living  one.  Any  careful 
study  of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  reveals  the  fact  that,  behind 
the  apparent  barbarism  and  comparative  backwardness  of 
Christian  society,  the  foundations  of  modern  civilization 
were  being  laid  under  healthier  conditions  than  the  old 
Empire,  with  all  its  magnificence,  had  ever  realized.  And 
now,  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  of  our  era,  two  new 
forces  of  penetrating  character  began  to  act  upon  the  seem- 
ingly inert  mass  of  the  Western  nations.  The  Arabs  in  the 
South,  and  the  Yikings  in  the  North,  appearing  as  the  mortal 
enemies  of  the  Christian  world,  in  the  end  awakened  it  to 
fresh  activity,  and  inspired  it  with  the  new  energy,  the  new 
blood,  the  new  knowledge,  which  found  so  profound  and  so 
universal  an  expression  in  the  Crusading  age.  Of  these 
new  forces,  the  Arabic  or  Southern  was  the  earlier  and  the 
more  intellectual ; the  Yiking  or  Northern  was  the  laterr 
but  the  more  racial  or  vital  in  its  action  upon  Christendom. 
Both  begin  as  non-Christian  powers — the  one  heretical,  the 
other  heathen;  both  are  well  worthy  of  a separate  and 
detailed  treatment : but  as  our  subject  is  properly  limited 
to  the  geographical  expansion  of  Christendom  alone,1  it  is 

1 And,  except  for  purposes  of  illustration,  of  Latin  Christendom. 


Ch.  YII.] 


EAELY  ARABIC  SCIENCE. 


393 


impossible  for  ns  to  consider  either  of  these  movements  with 
the  same  minuteness  as  the  story  of  Christian  enterprise 
itself.  We  can  only  attempt  to  sketch  the  main  features  of 
their  history,  to  trace  the  chief  ways  in  which  they  affected 
the  development  of  Europe,  and  to  form  some  idea  of  their 
respective  positions  in  the  general  drama  of  the  discovery  of 
the  world.  Here  we  shall  content  ourselves  with  adding  to 
the  account  already  given  of  Christian  geography  to  the 
close  of  the  ninth  century,  a short  review  of  non-Christian 
enterprise  in  the  Eastern  world  for  the  same  period ; and 
for  this  purpose  we  shall  select  from  two  classes  of  material 
— one  Arabic,  the  other  Chinese, — treating  both  with  especial 
reference  to  their  bearing  upon  the  Christian  world  of  the 
West.  The  Horse  or  Viking  movement  we  shall  leave  to 
the  second  part  of  our  subject — to  the  Crusading  age  and 
the  central  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  with  which  it  is 
essentially  connected. 


I. 

And,  first,  we  may  try  to  estimate  the  Arabic  share  in  3 
the  earlier  geographical  advance.  Controlling,  as  they  did 
from  the  seventh  century,  most  of  the  centres  of  ancient 
learning  in  Africa  and  Asia,1  the  Arabs  were  able  to  take 
advantage  of  older  knowledge,  if  they  cared  to  do  so.  And 
this  they  did,  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  Ho  race  has 
ever  shown  a greater  keenness  for  the  acquisition  of  know- 
ledge, or  more  favour  to  the  growth  of  science.  Leaving  on 
one  side  their  achievements  in  chemistry,  in  physics,  or  in 
mathematics,  and  looking  only  to  their  geography,  we  shall 
find  the  contrast  between  Islam  and  Christendom  more  and 
more  sharply  defined  in  this  age,  if  judged  not  by  faith  but 
by  works,  by  contemporary  monuments  rather  than  by  the- 
1 Above  all,  Ptolemy’s  own  Alexandria. 


394 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


prejudice  of  later  times.  But  let  us  first  of  all  admit  to  the 
full  what  may  be  said  to  disparage  Arab  thought  in  general, 
and  its  geographical  labours  in  particular.  For  it  has  left  us 
many  works,  but  few  masterpieces ; and  its  geography,  in 
especial,  lacks  concise  and  orderly  treatment,  is  constantly 
vitiated  by  tendencies  both  to  rambling  and  to  story-telling, 
and  has  an  altogether  inadequate  conception  of  the  sea. 

Thus  it  was  wanting  in  those  great  discoveries  that 
rewarded  the  daring  of  European  sailors  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries.  No  Arabs,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  ever 
ventured  across  a great  ocean  in  the  manner  of  Columbus ; 
or  carried  out  such  a coasting  of  unknown  lands  as  the 
S Portuguese  in  their  progress  round  Africa  ; or  tried  to  realize 
that  doctrine  of  the  roundness  of  the  earth,  which  was  so 
clearly  taught  by  the  ablest  of  the  Mussulman  geographers. 

Instead  of  this,  they  rather  helped  to  intensify  old 
superstitions  about  the  ocean  and  its  dangers.  Thus  some 
theologians  declared  that  a man  mad  enough  to  embark 
upon  the  Sea  of  Darkness  (or  Encircling  Ocean)  should  be 
deprived  of  civil  rights,  as  manifestly  irresponsible  for  his 
actions.  And  so,  at  the  very  time  when  Christian  explora- 
tion was  beginning  in  the  Atlantic,  one  light  of  Moslem 
science  declared  such  exploration  to  be  impossible,  for 
“ whirlpools  always  destroyed  any  adventurer : ” while 
another  decreed  the  ocean  to  be  ‘‘boundless,  so  that  ships 
dared  not  venture  out  of  sight  of  land  ; for  even  if  the  sailors 
knew  the  direction  of  the  winds,  they  would  not  know 
whither  those  winds  would  carry  them,  and,  as  there  was  no 
inhabited  country  beyond,  they  would  run  a risk  of  being 
lost  in  mists  and  fogs.” 

Again,  though  the  Arabic  knowledge  of  the  earth  was 
wider  than  Ptolemy’s,  and  far  sounder  than  his  for  many 
regions  in  the  east  and  south,  the  Moslem  scientists  showed 


VII.] 


DEFECTS  OF  ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


395 


a wonderful  docility  in  repeating  the  Greek  traditions  in 
geography ; and  in  some  cases  they  added  to  old  mistakes 
wilder  inventions  or  confusions  of  their  own.  Thus  the 
symmetrical  divisions  of  the  earth’s  surface  into  three  parts 
water  and  one  part  terra  firma  ; of  the  habitable  earth  into 
four  chief  empires ; of  the  circuit  of  the  globe  into  equal 
lengths  of  land  and  sea,1  all  reappeared  (with  many  other 
ancient  axioms)  in  Arabic  geographers. 

In  Greek  language  they  talked  of  the  five  (or  seven) 
zones  or  climates,  and  of  the  length  of  the  inhabited  earth 
as  just  twice  the  breadth.  From  India  they  derived  their 
doctrine  of  a Cupola  or  Summit  of  the  world,  in  which  were 
curiously  combined  two  of  the  superstitions  which  appear  in 
Christian  thought ; namely,  the  notions  of  Jerusalem  as  the 
navel  of  the  earth,  and  of  the  northern  mountain  round 
which  sun  and  moon  revolved,  and  on  which  therefore  day 
and  night  depended.  From  a mingling  of  Eastern  fancy 
with  Western  history,  the  Arabs  formed  many  of  their 
stories  ; for  instance,  their  favourite  legend  of  the  tribes  of 
Gog-Magog,  and  the  wall  of  brass  and  iron  behind  which 
they  had  been  prisoned  by  Alexander  of  Macedon  or  by  one 
of  the  Csesars. 

Once  more,  the  over-refined  state  of  their  language  was 
a hindrance  to  the  progress  both  of  true  art  and  true  science 
among  the  Arab  race.  The  love  of  rhyme,  of  antithesis,  of 
rhetorical  repetition,  so  highly  developed  in  their  literature, 
ended  in  degrading  cleverness  to  artificiality  and  style  to 
mechanical  contrivance.  Though  they  sat  at  the  feet  of  the 
Greeks,  they  never  learnt  an  important  part  of  their  lesson : 
their  surprising  and  sometimes  intolerable  diffuseness  is  in 
sharp  contrast  to  the  precision,  the  concentration,  and  the 
epigrammatic  power  of  their  great  models ; and  so,  among 

1 180°  in  each. 


396 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch- 

the  twenty  thousand  writers  of  standard  Arabic,  there  are 
few  indeed  who  have  reached  a catholic  reputation.  Yet, 
with  all  its  faults,  the  Arab  mind  accomplished  much.  In 
geography  it  preserved  perhaps  the  main  part  of  the  Greek 
tradition.  In  certain  fields,  both  of  practical  and  theoretical 
activity,  it  greatly  improved  upon  the  Greek  results ; and 
in  the  face  of  the  backwardness,  the  barbarism,  and  the 
credulity  of  contemporary  Europe,  its  work  is  still  more 
remarkable.  The  almost  Arctic  night  of  the  one  seemed 
to  leave  to  the  other  an  almost  equally  unbroken  daylight. 
Men  like  Massoudy,  Albyrouny,  or  Edrisi  had  a better  and 
more  adequate  conception  of  the  old  world  in  general  than 
was  possessed  by  any  Christian  before  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  use  of  the  magnet  was  naturalized  in  the  Caliphate,, 
though  in  a very  limited  way,  generations  before  it  had 
passed  westwards  to  Christendom ; the  construction  of  maps 
and  globes  had  reached  a considerable  proficiency  in  Islam,, 
while  our  own  draughtsmanship  was  rudimentary  and,  by 
comparison,  almost  ridiculous. 

In  three  directions  Arabic  explorers  more  especially 
widened  the  horizon  of  what  we  may  call  the  concrete,  as 
opposed  to  the  abstract  or  scientific,  world.  First  in  the  far 
East  they  improved  the  connections  between  China,  India, 
Tartary,  and  Persia  to  such  an  extent  that,  in  a sense,  they 
may  be  said  to  have  realized,  for  the  first  time  in  history, 
the  true  bulk  of  Asia.  The  lands  beyond  the  Ganges,  the 
Jaxartes,  and  the  Bolor  Mountains  had  never  before  been  so 
thoroughly  and  so  permanently  brought  within  the  ken  of 
the  Levantine  countries.  Again,  it  was  the  Arabs  who  first 
of  civilized  races  made  any  lasting  impression  on  Soudanese 
Africa  beyond  the  Sahara,  or  upon  the  Zanzibar  coast  of 
the  Indian  Ocean — from  Magadoxo  to  Sofala.  Lastly,  the 
earliest  attempts  to  penetrate  the  steppes  of  European  Russia 


Til.] 


A CHIETEMENTS  OF  ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


397 


were  due  to  the  trade  enterprise  of  Saracen  merchants.  And, 
as  nsual,  these  movements,  like  all  great  advances  of  the 
human  race,  were  the  outcome  of  favourable  circumstance. 
The  subjects  of  the  undivided  Caliphate  had  a wider  outlook, 
and  better  opportunities  for  a still  greater  enlargement  of 
the  field  of  vision,  than  had  been  possessed  by  any  people 
■or  any  country  since  the  Antonines  ; and  they  were,  almost 
beyond  conception,  more  fortunately  placed  than  the  Chris- 
tian nations  of  the  pre-Crusading  time.  The  last  of  the 
Ommiads1  (c.  a.d.  750)  reigned  over  three-fourths  of  the 
•empire  of  Alexander,  together  with,  perhaps,  one-quarter  of 
the  dominion  of  Trajan.  From  the  burning  heat  of  the 
■Sahara  to  the  pleasantly  temperate  lands  of  Gascony  and  of 
Bactria, — in  Cordova  and  in  Samarcand,  in  Scinde  and 
Cyprus, — the  same  sovereign  was  acknowledged  a hundred 
years  after  Mohammed  had  sent  his  embassies  to  Heraclius 
and  to  Chosroes,  and  called  on  them  to  join  with  him  in 
acknowledging  the  Unity  of  God. 

It  may  be  useful  for  the  better  understanding  not  merely 
of  Arab,  but  also  of  mediseval  geography  in  general,  if  we 
examine  a little  more  closely  the  commercial  connections  of 
-Islam  with  non-Moslem  nations,  and  the  mercantile  high- 
ways under  the  more  or  less  direct  control  of  the  successors 
of  Mohammed. 

The  principal  trade-routes 2 within  the  Caliphate  were, 
.after  all,  the  courses  of  the  two  river- valleys  of  Mesopotamia 
and  their  continuation  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  commerce, 
like  the  politics  of  the  Empire,  centred  in  Bagdad  and 
&s><^  Bpgbra.  It  was  from  this  source  that  the  main  current  of 

1 And  the  earlier  Abbassides  con- 
trolled nearly  the  whole  of  this  great 
dominion.  Spain  was  the  only  im- 

portant loss  resulting  from  the  revo- 


lution of  a.d.  750. 

2 On  this  especially,  see  Heyd, 
“ Commerce  du  Levant,”  i.  24-51,  etc. 


398 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


their  trade  started  for  India  and  for  China,  just  as  the  lesser 
stream  of  East  African  commerce  took  its  rise  in  the 
harbours  of  the  Red  Sea.  V ery  early  in  the  history  of  Islam, 
the  Arabs  established  their  factories  in  the  “ lands  of  the 
sun-rising ; ” and  their  merchants  were  probably  among  the 
strangers  to  whom  the  port  of  Canton  was  thrown  open  in 
a.d.  700.  Half  a century  later  (in  758)  this  town  was 
actually  pillaged  and  burnt  by  the  subjects  of  the  Caliph, 
in  alliance  with  native  rebels  ; but  until  795  they  continued 
to  frequent  this  harbour ; and,  even  after  they  had  abandoned 
it,  they  found  a second  home  in  Khanfu  for  another  hundred 
years.  Arab  markets  existed  also  in  Cochin  China  and 
Ceylon.  After  the  domestic  revolution  which  convulsed 
China  in  878,  their  trade  in  the  far  East  seems  to  have  been 
more  and  more  concentrated  at  Kalah,  in  the  Malay  Penin- 
sula— a point  expressly  named  in  the  Voyages  of  Sinbad 
the  Sailor.  The  Chinese  merchants  therefore,  so  far  as 
they  still  desired  to  retain  the  Arab  trade,  were  now  com- 
pelled to  resort  to  the  aforesaid  Kalah,  which  took  the  place 
that  Ceylon  had  formerly  held,  for  instance,  in  the  sixth 
century.  The  Malay  emporium  was  doubtless  the  source 
of  Malayan  Islamism.  From  the  days  of  Massoudy  to 
those  of  Aboulfeda,  Kalah  was  the  “ chief  harbour  ” 
for  all  the  regions  between  Oman  and  China ; and 
from  this  commerce  came  the  improved  knowledge  of 
Java  which  the  mariners  of  Siraf  gained  in  the  tenth 
century. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  before  a.d.  700  (and  perhaps 
even  before  Mohammed)  Arab  merchants  were  already 
established  in  Ceylon ; and  their  trading  colonies  were 
thickly  scattered  at  a very  early  date  along  the  Malabar 
coast,  where  the  Zamorin  Kerman  Permal,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  ninth  century,  embraced  Islam  and  opened  his 


VII.]  TRADE-ROUTES  OF  THE  EARLY  CALIPHATE.  399 


dominions  to  Moslem  commerce.  Thus,  in  916,  Massoudy,1 
in  the  course  of  his  Indian  journeys,  came  upon  a settle- 
ment of  ten  thousand  Mussulmans  at  Saimour,  near  the 
present  Bombay ; many  of  them  born  in  that  country,  of 
Arab  parents,  and  enjoying,  like  the  Moslem  colony  at 
Khanfu,  the  privilege  of  self-government. 

While  the  Arabs  sprinkled  the  Malabar  coast  with  their 
trading  colonies,  their  armies  had  already  reached  the  Indus. 
At  the  same  time 2 that  Kutaiba  received  orders  to  advance 


upon  Kashgar,  and  threaten  China  by  way  of  the  Gobi 
Desert  and  the  Great  Wall,  his  colleague,  Mohammed  Ibn 
Kassim,  commanding  the  armies  of  the  Caliph  in  Scinde, 
was  urged  to  attack  the  Celestial  Empire  on  the  side  of  India, 
conquering  Etindostan  on  the  way,  and  thus  completing  the 
triumph  of  Islam  in  the  Eastern  world.  The  general  who 
should  first  reach  the  Land  of  Silk  should  have  the  govern- 
ment of  the  same — to  this  the  Commander  of  the  Faithful 
had  pledged  himself ; and  the  ruler,  who  already  from  his 
palace  at  Damascus  held  sway  over  more  than  half  the 
diameter  of  our  hemisphere,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Hindu 
Kush,  might  well  hope  to  hear  of  the  submission  of  Benares 
and  Canton.  All  on  fire  with  the  prospect  of  such  a victory 
and  such  rewards,  the  northern  army  spread  over  the  land 
of  Bokhara  and  Samarcand  to  the  banks  of  the  Jaxartes, 
and  poured  through  the  hill-country  of  Eerghanah  upon 
Kashgar.  Mo  less  eager  to  be  first  in  the  race  to  the  China 
Sea,  the  southern  or  “ Indian  ” host  started  for  the  Ganges 
Valley,  and  entered  Moultan,  where  their  leader  hung  a 
piece  of  beef  round  the  neck  of  the  great  Hindu  idol  of  that 


1 Massoudy,  “Meadows  of  Gold,” 
ii.  85  (Barbier  de  Meynard  and 

Pavet  de  Coarteille) ; Reinaud, 
“Memoire  sur  l’Inde,”  p.  242,  and 
bis  edition  of  the  “ Two  Mussul- 
man Travellers  ” (“  Relations  des 


voyages  dans  l’lnde  et  a la  Chine,”) 
p.xlviii.  Ibn-Haukal,  Albyrouny,  and 
Kazwini  speak  to  the  same  effect. 

2 At  the  opening  of  the  eighth 
century. 


400 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


holy  city.  But  the  sudden  death  of  the  Caliph,  “ the 
glorious  and  inactive  ” Walid,  abruptly  ended  these  gigantic 
schemes,  though  not  before  the  Son  of  Heaven,  terrified  by 
the  coming  storm,  had  bowfed  before  the  power  of  Kutaiba, 
and  sought  to  make  his  peace  with  presents  and  fair  words.1 

Within  a hundred  years  from  this  time,  the  conquering 
age  of  the  Caliphate  had  begun  to  pass  away ; and  till  the 
time  of  the  Sultans  of  Ghazni,  three  centuries  after  Kutaiba, 
the  movement  that  he  had  led  was  in  abeyance,  and  Islam 
only  advanced  in  India  and  Central  Asia  by  the  more 
peaceful  means  of  commerce  and  social  intercourse.  Thus 
the  interior  of  Hindostan  remained  almost  unknown  to 
Arab  enterprise,  although  the  coasts  were  familiar  enough. 
Towards  the  east,  the  Moslem  geographers,  like  the  Moslem 
merchants,  usually  stopped  about  Moultan  in  their  progress 
through  the  upland  of  Northern  India. 

One  constant  danger  of  the  coast  routes,  towards  Ceylon 
■on  the  one  side  and  Zanzibar  on  the  other,  was  the  nest  of 
pirates  in  Socotra ; but,  in  spite  of  this,  a regular  trade  in 
the  merchandise  of  Further  Asia2  was  maintained  in  the 
Red  Sea  ports,  in  those  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  even  in 
some  of  the  harbours  of  the  east  coast  of  Africa  beyond 
Guardafui.  Daybal,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Indus  ; Muscat, 
Sohar,  and  Siraf  to  the  east ; Aden,  Djeddah,  Suez,  and 
Magadoxo  to  the  west  and  south  of  Arabia,  seem  to  have 
been  the  chief  centres  of  this  southern  trade  in  the  first 
three  centuries  of  the  Hegira.  It  was  by  this  maritime 
route,  in  one  or  other  of  its  branches,  that  most  of  the 


1 See  Edrisi  (Jaubert),  i.  167 ; 
Reinaud,  in  Mem.  de  l’Acad.,  xvii. 
,185,  186 ; Remusat,  “ Melanges 
Asiatiques,”  i.  441,  442  ; de  Sacy,  in 
Not.  et  Extraits,  ii.  374,  375.  Yule, 

Cathay  Prelim.  Essay,  lxxx.,  lxxxi. 


2 See  Massoudy,  i.  303, 308 ; ii.  52 ; 
iii.  7,  etc.,  12,  37,  43-48.  Also  in 
the  “Two  Mussulman  Travellers,” 
p.  clviii.  of  Reinaud’s  Preface,  and 
pp.  93, 142,  and  153  of  the  text. 


VII.]  TRADE-ROUTES  OF  THE  EARLY  CALIPHATE.  401 


products  of  the  Indian  Ocean  and  of  South-Eastern  Asia,  as 
well  as  of  the  Soudan  countries,  arrived  in  the  Levant. 

By  comparison,  the  overland  routes  were  unimportant,  at 
least  in  reference  to  the  value  of  the  traffic  that  passed  over 
them.  Even  from  Samarcand,  Balkh,  or  Bokhara,1  men 
usually  preferred  the  ocean  way  to  China,  rather  than  face 
the  terrors  of  mountain  and  desert  along  the  caravan  track. 
Between  India  and  the  Caliphate,  merchants,  if  they  did  not 
go  by  sea,  usually  followed  one  of  two  distinct  paths,  either 
north-west  from  the  mouth  of  the  Indus  through  Beluchistan, 
or  from  the  Punjab  to  Cabul  and  Ghazni.  From  the  great 
marts  of  the  modern  Afghanistan,  both  the  Oxus  valley  on 
one  side  and  Mesopotamia  on  the  other  were  directly  supplied. 
But  within  the  lands  of  Islam,  as  they  stood  in  the  eighth 
and  following  centuries,  many  of  the  rarest  treasures  which 
the  Mediterranean  world  had  always  been  forced  to  seek  in 
distant  countries  were  to  be  found  without  further  trouble. 
It  was  hardly  needful  to  go  to  China  for  silk,  when  the 
culture  was  naturalized  in  Merv  and  Bokhara;  ambergris, 
pearls,  and  precious  stones  were  to  be  found  off  the  coasts  of 


1 But  of  course  a certain  com- 
merce was  maintained,  though  liable 
to  interruption  from  the  Turks ; and 
setting  aside  occasional  and  extra- 
ordinary journeys,  such  as  those  of 
the  great  Chinese  pilgrims  (Fa-Hien, 
and  Hiouen-Thsang,  etc.)  and  some 
Arab  travellers  (such  as  Misar  Abou 
Dolaf,  son  of  Mohalhal),  we  have,  as 
evidence  of  a regular  commerce  in 
the  time  of  the  early  Caliphate,  cer- 
tain facts  recorded  by  the  Arab  his- 
torians. Thus,  at  the  capture  of 
Samarcand  and  Bokhara  by  the 
Arabs,  one  of  the  chief  merchants  of 
the  country  offered  5000  pieces  of 
Chinese  silk  to  save  his  life.  In  the 
time  of  Massoudy,  two  routes  were 


principally  followed  from  the  Sogd  k> 
China  (Mas.  i.  347-349).  The  former 
apparently  passed  by  Lake  Issyk-Kul, 
and  Tengri  Khan  along  much  the 
same  way  that  Hiouen-Thsang  fol- 
lowed on  his  outward  journey,  and 
occupied  two  months  (according  to 
Abou  Zeyd  Hassan  in  the  “Two 
Mussulman  Travellers,”  p.  114,  Rei- 
naud), — an  extremely  short  journey 
for  that  time.  The  other  route  possi- 
bly took  Hiouen-Thsang’s  homeward 
course  by  Khotan.  There  was  also 
a route  to  China  through  Thibet, 
but  this  was  extremely  difficult,  and 
almost  exclusively  used  for  the  musk 
trade. 

2 D 


402 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


Arabia  and  in  the  mountains  of  Persia,  as  well  as  in  Ceylon 
and  the  further  East ; cotton  and  the  sugar-cane,  myrrh  and 
incense,  woven  and  embroidered  stuffs,  rare  and  sweet- 
smelling woods,  ivory,  and  metals  of  almost  every  kind, 
could  be  obtained  without  once  crossing  the  borders  of  the 
kingdom  of  Walid,  or  even  of  the  shrunken  realm  of  Haroun 
al  Easchid. 

Along  the  northern  frontier  of  Islam,  as  we  see  from 
various  Mussulman  travellers,  there  was  an  amount  of  trade 
and  a variety  of  trade-routes  which  may  well  surprise  us  for 
that  age.  By  comparison  with  the  great  southern  water- 
ways, this  commerce  was  of  course  inconsiderable ; but,  like 
Ibn  Fozlan’s  account  of  the  Eussians,  it  has  an  interest  of 
its  own  in  the  light  of  later  history.  From  the  marts  of 
Bokhara  and  Samarcand  on  the  North-East,  an  active  trade 
flowed  by  the  Sea  of  Aral  and  the  Caspian  to  Derbend  and 
the  lower  valley  of  the  Volga  on  the  west.  The  southern 
coasts  of  both  the  great  inland  seas  of  Central  Asia  were 
completely  under  Moslem  control  from  the  early  years  of  the 
eighth  century ; and  besides  the  traffic  thus  opened  between 
the  Oxus  Valley  and  the  Black  Sea,  Arab  traders  pursued 
their  way  from  Astrabad  on  the  Caspian,  and  Djordjan(ieh) 
on  the  Sea  of  Aral,  to  the  land  of  the  tolerant  Khazars  of 
Southern  Eussia,  who  welcomed  Moslem,  Christian,  Jew,  and 
Pagan  alike,1  and  whose  king  in  the  tenth  century  corre- 
sponded both  with  Constantinople  and  Cordova. 

Let  us  now  turn  for  a moment  from  commercial  to  intel- 
lectual influences.  One  point  of  especial  importance  to  us 


1 See  the  letter  of  the  Spanish  Jew 
Chasdai  to  the  king  of  the  Khazars 
in  Carmoly  (“  Itineraires  de  la  Terre 
Sainte,”  Brussels,  1847,  p.  38).  It  was 
largely  by  this  way  that  those  vast 
numbers  of  Arab  coins  passed  into 


Northern  Europe  which  have  been 
found  in  modern  times  in  the  Scandi- 
navian, German,  and  other  hoards, 
of  which  one  example  near  Mainz 
yielded  15,000  pieces  of  money. 


VII.] 


INTELLECTUAL  INFLUENCE  OF  ARABS. 


403 


in  this  part  of  the  subject  is  the  connection  between  Arab 
and  Christian  thought  which  is  the  key  to  so  much  of 
the  history  of  the  later  Middle  Ages.  In  dealing  with  the 
period  of  the  Crusades  we  shall  have  to  notice  this  more 
fully ; but  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote  one  or  two 
illustrations  of  the  way  in  which  Moslem  influence  prolonged 
the  life  and  malevolent  activity  of  certain  superstitious  ideas. 
For  such  illustration  we  have  only  to  look  at  expressions  of 
European  scholars  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
who  were  living  in  countries  far  distant  from  Islam,  at  a 
time  long  after  the  intellectual  glory  of  the  Arabs  had  begun 
to  decay,  and  when  Christian  scholastic  philosophy  had 
reached  an  independent  position — yet  who,  on  many  points, 
were  content  to  reflect  the  mind,  and  even  the  words,  of 
Mohammedan  writers  of  this  early  time,  of  the  eighth,  ninth, 
and  tenth  centuries. 

First  of  all  let  us  take  Adelard  of  Bath  (our  own  English 
translator  of  the  Astronomical  Tables  of  the  famous  “ Khariz- 
mian,”  Mohammed),  who  in  1110-14  undertook  a journey  in 
Egypt,  Arabia,  and  other  parts  of  the  Levant,  seeking  out 
“ the  causes  of  all  things  and  the  mysteries  of  nature ; ” and 
who  at  last  returned  successfully  to  the  West  with  a “ rich 
spoil  of  letters,”  and  especially  of  Greek  and  Arab  manu- 
scripts. He  had  had  in  Paris  the  best  education  his  time 
could  offer,  and  he  writes  commonly  with  good  sense  and  a 
fair  amount  of  enlightenment  and  knowledge.  But  he  seems 
to  have  swallowed  all  the  Arab  formulas  about  the  World- 
Summit,1  and  the  symmetrical  divisions  of  the  earth,  and  he 


1 This  “cupola,”  known  to  the 
Arabs  as  Arim,  seems  to  have  been 
derived  immediately  from  the  Hindoo 
myth  of  such  a world- summit;  the 
name,  Reinaud  suggests,  is  from  the 
great  Indian  kingdom  of  Odjein  or 


Oudyana,  which  the  Buddhist  pil- 
grim-travellers found  in  so  flourishing 
a state  in  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh 
centuries  a.d.  (See  the  accounts  of 
Fa-Hien,  Hoei-Sing,  and  Hiouen- 
Thsang.) 


404 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


reproduces  them  exactly.  “ Arim,  or  the  terrestrial  cupola,” 
he  tells  us,  “ is  under  the  Equator,  at  the  point  where  there 
is  no  latitude ; ” the  chief  places  of  every  country,  he  con- 
tinues, might  be  fixed  from  the  meridian  of  Arim;  and 
among  the  Saracen  geographers  this  valuable  task  had  been 
already  accomplished.  Their  examination  of  the  stars  and 
of  the  earth’s  surface  started  from  this  centre,  and  proceeded 
in  due  course  to  the  four  ends  of  the  earth.  Each  of  these 
termini  was  at  the  same  distance  from  the  central  height — 
a fourth  part  of  the  world’s  girth,  or  ninety  degrees  of 
geographical  measurement. 

To  the  same  purpose,  again,  writes  Gerard  of  Cremona 
(1114-1187),  who  had  imbibed  a certain  amount  of  Moham- 
medan lore  during  a residence  at  Toledo.  The  middle  point 
of  the  w7orld,  he  had  learnt,  was  called  Arim ; it  was  said  to 
be  in  India ; it  was  in  the  centre  between  east  and  west,  and 
between  the  two  poles, — each  one  of  these  points  being  90 
degrees  distant  from  it ; it  was  a mathematical  centre  known 
to  Hermes  Trismegistus  and  to  Ptolemy,  as  well  as  to  the 
Arabs,  and  it  had  been  used  by  all  of  them ; it  was  unques- 
tionable that  Alexander  of  Macedon  marched  just  so  far  to 
the  east  of  Arim  as  Hercules  to  the  west ; and  at  both 
extremities  one  reached  the  encircling  ocean : these  were 
the  chief  facts  as  known  to  Gerard,  and  expressed  in  his 
“ Theory  of  the  Planets.”  1 

Once  more,  in  the  thirteenth  century  two  of  the  greatest 
of  mediaeval  thinkers,  Albert  and  Boger  Bacon  (to  say 
nothing  of  Alfonso  the  Wise  of  Castile,  in  his  famous 
“ Tables  ”),  reproduced  the  essential  points  of  this  doctrine, 
its  false  symmetry  and  its  compromise  between  the  true  and 
the  traditional,  sometimes  with  variations  of  their  own. 

1 Plato  of  Tivoli  (about  1150)  is  not  so  explicit,  but  appears  to  take 
substantially  the  same  view. 


VIL] 


AEAB  DOCTRINES  IN  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE.  405 


Albertus  Magnus,  whose  position  among  the  schoolmen 
was  generally  reckoned  as  second  only  to  Aquinas,  in  his 
4t  View  of  Astronomy  ” repeats  Adelard  upon  the  question  of 
Arim,  “ where  there  is  no  latitude ; ” while  Bacon,  the  first 
Christian  worker  of  any  real  power  or  insight  in  the  exact 
sciences,  allows  himself  a long  digression,1  not  only  upon 
the  real  and  the  legendary  East  and  West,  but  even  upon 
the  question  of  a twofold  Arim  or  World-Summit.  One  of 
these,  he  suggests,  may  be  placed  “ under  the  solstice,  the 
other  under  the  equinoctial  zone.”  His  perception,  how- 
ever, is  clear  enough  to  prevent  him  from  attaching  any 
practical  value  to  Arim.  It  was,  he  expressly  tells  us,  a 
traditional  expression,  useful  for  calculation ; rather  than  a 
real  fact  which  must  be  taken  account  of.  It  was  only 
serviceable  for  the  men  of  theory,  in  speaking  of  the 
habitable  world  as  known  to  them,  according  to  the  “ true 
understanding  ” of  latitude  and  longitude ; and  this  “ true 
understanding,”  or  theoretical  assumption,  was  not  adequate 
to  what  had  been  accomplished  in  travel  “by  Pliny  and 
others.”  It  was  the  Arim  theory,  as  reproduced  in  the 
“ Imago  Mundi  ” of  Cardinal  Peter  Ailly  (written,  or  at 
least  published,  in  1410),  which  was  responsible  for  the 
doctrines  of  Columbus 2 on  the  pear-like  shape  of  the  world ; 
forming,  as  he  conceived,  a sort  of  second  earth-summit  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere. 

But  to  return.  The  expansive  action  of  the  Arab  race 
did  not  begin  with  Mohammed.  Many  centuries  before,  a 
colony  of  their  people  seems  to  have  crossed  the  Bed  Sea 


1 Opus  Majus. 

2 The  Old  Hemisphere,  he  writes 
to  Queen  Isabella  in  1498,  which  has 
for  its  centre  the  isle  of  Arim,  is 
spherical,  but  the  other  Hemisphere 
{the  New  or  Western  one)  has  the 


form  of  the  lower  half  of  a pear. 
Just  a hundred  leagues  west  of  the 
Azores  the  earth  rises  at  the  equator, 
and  the  temperature  grows  keener. 
The  summit  is  over  against  the 
mouth  of  the  Orinoco. 


40() 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Oh. 


and  founded  the  Abyssinian  nation  in  the  highlands  where  the 
Blue  Nile  takes  its  rise.  At  a date  scarcely  less  remote,  the 
sun-worshippers  of  Southern  Arabia  have  been  credited  with 
the  building  of  the  ruined  cities  of  Mashonaland,  and  with 
the  first  working  of  the  gold  mines  of  the  Sofala  coast,  to 
say  nothing  of  their  asserted  trade-connections  in  Persia,  in 
India,  and  even  in  China.  But  all  these  developments  fall 
into  a period  anterior  to  that  of  the  Christian  Empire  ; and 
in  themselves  rest  upon  somewhat  vague  and  doubtful 
inferences.  For  a long  time  before  the  proclamation  of 
Islam,  Arabia  seemed  more  likely,  in  spite  of  its  fine  natural 
defences,  to  become  the  spoil  of  other  nations  rather  than 
the  conqueror  of  half  the  world.  Thus  the  dominion  exer- 
cised by  the  Abyssinian  kings  over  Yemen,  and  the  suzerainty 
claimed  by  the  Persian  monarchs  over  a large  part  of  the 
peninsula  in  the  sixth  century,  gave  little  promise  of  the 
activity  that  would  burst  forth  like  a volcano  within  that 
same  peninsula  in  the  seventh. 

Our  concern  here  is  with  the  Arabic  geographers  in  that 
time  when,  after  the  temporary  collapse  of  scientific  interest 
in  Christendom,  they  filled  the  place  of  schoolmasters  to 
Europe,  to  bring  it  to  a knowledge  of  its  own  powers.  To 
some  extent  they  accomplished  this  result  by  the  terrible 
discipline  of  their  attacks ; but  they  also  performed  their 
task  by  preserving  and  transmitting  the  older  knowledge  so 
much  lost  sight  of  by  Christendom.  It  is  not  till  after 
the  Crusading  period  has  fairly  begun  that  Christian  Europe 
really  begins  to  take  advantage  of  Arab  labours;  but  as 
much  of  the  best  Arab  work  was  done  before  the  middle 
of  the  tenth  century,  it  is  necessary  to  pass  it  briefly  in 
review  as  a supplementary  chapter  to  that  religious  geo- 
graphy which  fills  all  the  earlier  Middle  Ages. 

The  science  of  the  Koran  is  not  very  promising,  as 


VII.] 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  KORAN. 


407 


we  may  see  from  its  language  about  the  seven  heavens  and 
seven  earths,  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  or  the  mythical  achieve- 
ments of  Doul-Karnain 1 (Alexander  the  Great  ?)  ; but  it  is 
interesting  to  see  how  in  this  case  the  earlier  and  purely 
religious  conceptions  are  left  behind,  though  never  repu- 
diated, by  that  scientific  naturalism  which  Islam  developed 
before  the  Crusades. 

The  poetic  language  of  the  prophet  upon  the  constella- 
tions offered  no  particular  difficulties; — “We  have  set  forth 
the  Towers  of  heaven 2 and  decked  them  for  the  beholders, 
and  we  guard  them  from  every  cursed  Satan ; ” 3 but  the 
elaborate  recital  of  the  legend  of  the  wall  of  Gog-Magog 
might  have  caused  more  trouble  if  Moslems  had  ever  set 
themselves  to  construct  a strictly  theological  geography ; 
based,  after  the  Christian  model,  upon  the  language  of  their 
sacred  books.  When  the  Lord  of  the  two  horns  (declares 
Mohammed,  in  a phrase  which  has  been  variously  applied  to 
Alexander,  to  J ulius  Caesar,  and  to  Augustus), — when  Doul- 
Karnain  went  forth  with  his  army,  he  first  marched  “ to  the 
going  down  of  the  sun,  and  found  it  set  in  a miry  fount.”  4 
Then,  having  arrived  at  the  end  of  the  West,  he  turned  and 
followed  a route  to  the  extremity  of  the  East,  where  he  found 
a people  unsheltered  from  the  heat.  And  at  last  (seemingly 
in  the  far  North)  he  came  upon  a race,  dwelling  between 
two  mountains,  “ who  scarce  understood  a language.” 

“ And  they  said,  0 Doul-Karnain,  verily  Gog  and  Magog3  lay  waste 
this  land ; build  us  a rampart  between  us  and  them.  And  he  said,  Bring 
me  blocks  of  iron;  and  when  he  had  filled  the  space  between  the 
mountains,  he  caused  them  to  blow  upon  it  with  bellows,  and  heated  it 
fiery  hot,  and  poured  molten  brass  upon  it.  And  Gog  and  Magog  were 
not  able  to  scale  it,  neither  were  they  able  to  dig  through  it.” 

1 “He  of  the  Two  Horns.”  4 Koran,  ch.  18. 

2 Lit.,  “ Towers  in  the  heavens.”  5 Yadjoudj  and  Madjoudj. 

3 Koran,  ch.  15. 


408 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


But  the  world  of  Mohammed  was  limited  to  the  Levant, 
or  nearer  East ; Damascus  was  probably  the  furthest  point 
outside  Arabia  ever  reached  by  him ; he  knew  roughly  the 
extent  and  power  of  the  Persian  and  Boman  dominions,  as 
well  as  of  his  own  country  ; of  all  else  he  shows  little  know- 
ledge. But  the  first  generation  of  his  followers  was  in 
a very  different  position — in  a hundred  years  the  fullest 
extent  of  the  Caliphate  had  been  reached  ; and  in  the  cooler 
time  that  followed  the  heat  of  conquest,  science  had  oppor- 
tunity to  assert  itself.  Under  the  influence  of  two  classes 
of  teachers,  and  by  means  both  of  indirect  example  and  of 
direct  teaching,  the  Arabs  began  to  work  for  civilisation  as 
they  had  worked  for  political  empire.  They  recollected  the 
tradition  that  “ the  ink  of  science  was  of  more  value  than  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs,”  and  they  turned  to  obey  the  behest  of 
Mohammed  to  “ seek  knowledge,  even  in  China.”  It  was  in 
this  spirit  they  took  lessons  of  the  Nestorians  and  the  Jews. 

We  have  seen  something  already  of  the  extent,  per- 
sistence, and  frequency  of  Nestorian  missionary  travel ; we 
must  here  take  some  notice  of  their  men  of  learning,  whose 
work  in  transmitting  to  the  Moslem  world  so  much  of  ancient 
knowledge  deserves  some  gratitude.  In  the  great  college  at 
Edessa,  before  its  suppression  by  the  orthodox  Emperor 
Zeno,  in  479,  were  translated  into  Syriac  many  of  the  Creek 
and  Latin  classics.  The  Nestorians  were  conspicuously  suc- 
cessful in  medicine.  Their  efforts  were  countenanced  by  the 
Abbasside  Caliphs  ; and  Haroun  al  Raschid  put  the  direction 
of  his  schools  in  the  hands  of  the  famous  Nestorian,  John 
Masue ; just  as  several  of  the  leading  Moslem  families  had 
already  entrusted  the  education  of  their  children  to  Nes- 
torian teachers. 

Not  less  important  was  the  position  of  the  Jews,  espe- 
cially of  Alexandria,  under  the  rule  of  Islam.  Their  physicians 


TIL]  BEGINNINGS  OF  ARABIC  SCIENCE,  CIRC.  A.D.  770.  409 


were  even  more  celebrated  than  the  Nestorian,  and  the 
-Caliph  Moawiyah  was  attended  by  a Jewish  doctor,  just  as 
his  successor  Haroun  al  Raschid  employed  a Hebrew  envoy 
in  his  transactions  with  Charlemagne.  Through  these  two 
classes  of  instructors,  the  Arabs  became  gradually  aroused  to 
the  interests  of  astronomy  and  geography. 

It  was  in  the  eighth  century  that  the  sleepers  were 
really  awakened ; in  other  words,  it  was  under  the  Caliph 
Almansor  (a.d.  753-775)  that  geographical  science  began  to 
take  shape  among  the  Arabs.  Material  of  two  sorts  was 
•chiefly  useful  to  and  used  by  them.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
practical  travel  of  Arab  generals,  governors,1  merchants,  and 
pilgrims ; the  itineraries  drawn  up  for  the  use  of  armies ; the 
maps  or  representations  draughted  by  provincial  adminis- 
trators, were  put  under  contribution.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Moslem  geographers  made  free  use  of  the  methods  and 
results  of  previous  students, — Indian,  Persian,  and  Greek. 
Their  geography  from  the  first  was  thus  bound  up  with 
mathematical  calculation ; and  formal  work  in  theory 
preceded  by  a good  many  years  any  formal  or  literary 
treatment  of  practical  travel. 

About  a.d.  772  Almansor  ordered  an  Arabic  version  to 
be  made  of  the  Sanscrit  astronomy,  known  by  the  name  of 
“ Absolute  Truth,” 2 which  had  just  been  brought  to  Bagdad 
by  an  Indian  “philosopher.”  This  was  the  beginning  of 
great  things.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  ninth  century,  the 
Caliph  Almamoun,  successor  of  Haroun  “ the  just,”  created 
the  first  true  school  of  geographical  science  which  had  been 
seen  since  the  days  of  the  Antonines.  A not  inadequate 
collection  of  Greek  works  was  formed ; the  Almagest  and 

1 Thus  Sallam  I bn  Melik,  as  the  province, 
governor  of  Spain  in  721,  sent  the  2 The  Sindhind. 

Caliph  Yezid  II.  a description  of  that 


410 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch- 


Geography  of  Claudius  Ptolemy  were  turned  into  Arabic, 
along  with  a considerable  portion  of  Euclid,  Archimedes,  and 
Aristotle ; 1 and  an  observatory  was  founded  at  Bagdad  (in 
a.d.  820),  where,  as  well  as  at  Damascus,  attempts  were  soon 
after  made  (in  830  and  833)  to  determine  the  obliquity  of 
the  ecliptic.  Once  again,  Almamoun  caused  a simultaneous 
measurement  to  be  taken,  in  Syria  and  in  Mesopotamia,  of  a 
space  of  two  degrees  of  the  terrestrial  meridian.  For  the 
translations  of  Greek  books,  made,  as  they  usually  were  at 
this  time,  from  Syriac  versions  by  Syrian  Christians,  did 
not  satisfy  the  Caliph.  He  wished  to  institute  a fresh 
examination  of  the  facts  and  theories  set  forth  in  these 
books;  and  especially  he  was  anxious  to  gain  some  inde- 
pendent assurance  upon  the  size  of  the  earth. 

The  ambition  of  the  prince  was  felt  by  his  subjects* 
Thus  Mohammed  the  Kharizmian,  whom  Almamoun  had 
chosen  to  direct  the  Bagdad  Library,  compiled  a “ System 
of  the  Earth  ” after  the  Ptolemaic  pattern — a sort  of  index 
of  place-names,  each  accompanied  by  its  latitude  and  longi- 
tude. In  the  same  reign,  various  astronomical  tables  were 
composed,2  which  aimed  at  giving  the  position  on  the  earth’s 
surface  of  the  principal  Mussulman  towns.  An  abridgment 
was  also  compiled  of  the  Sanscrit  astronomy  already  noticed 
— an  abridgment,  however,  which  added  to  its  original  a 
quantity  of  material  derived  from  Greek  and  Persian  investi- 
gations, and  which  has  been  preserved  to  us  in  the  Latin 
version  of  Adelard  of  Bath.  Nor  was  this  all.  Mohammed 
of  Ferganah  from  the  Upper  Oxus  country  (“  Alfergany  ”),. 
in  his  book  of  “ Celestial  Movements,”  which  afterwards 


1 The  now  lost  work  of  Marinus  of 
Tyre  was  also  translated. 

2 See  the  tables,  for  instance,  of 
Yahya,  the  son  of  an  astronomer 


famous  under  Almansor ; and  of 
Ahmed  Ibn  Abdallah,  author  of  the 
earliest  of  the  great  Mohammedan 
“ Canons  ” of  astronomy. 


VII.]  BEGINNINGS  OF  DESCRIPTIVE  GEOGRAPHY,  c.  A.D.  800.  411 

passed  into  Latin  through  a Hebrew  channel,  gave  a picture 
of  the  world  [and  of  all  its  principal  countries  and  towns 
under  the  seven  Climates  of  Greek  geography.  He  also 
wrote  upon  the  astrolabe  and  the  other  instruments  most 
used  by  the  astronomers  of  the  time. 

So  far  nearly  all  Moslem  geography  had  been  mathe- 
matical, concerned  with  astronomy  in  the  first  place,  and 
only  referring  here  and  there  to  descriptive  earth-knowledge. 
One  of  the  earliest  treatises  that  attempted  to  fill  this  want 
was  the  “ Collection  of  Peculiar  Species  ” made  by  Nadhar, 
son  of  Schomayl,  about  a.d.  800,  in  which  the  qualities  of 
terrestrial  objects  are  discussed,  from  “ mountains  and  defiles  ” 
to  “milk  and  truffles.”  The  reports  of  distant  countries 
which,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  had  been  steadily  furnished 
to  the  central  Moslem  Government  by  generals,  viceroys, 
and  spies 1 ever  since  the  great  expansion  of  the  Arab  race 
in  the  seventh  century,  were  of  course  in  the  nature  of 
State  secrets,  and  only  a very  small  proportion  ever  gained 
publicity.  But  a much  more  important  advance  (than  that 
of  Nadhar)  was  made  at  this  very  time  towards  geography 
in  its  more  exact  and  ordinary  sense.  First  of  all,  under 
Almamoun  himself  (c.  a.d.  830),  we  have  the  work  of  Amrou, 
son  of  Bahr,  surnamed  Aljahedh  from  his  staring  eyes,  who 
took  advantage  of  his  residence  in  the  port  of  Bassora  to 
collect  facts  and  fancies  from  the  merchants  and  travellers  he 
met  there.  Bassora,  the  harbour  of  Bagdad,  was  then  perhaps 
the  chief  centre  of  Moslem  commerce;  even  the  ships  of 
China  came  up  to  its  quays ; and  with  such  a concourse  of 
traders  and  trade-news  from  the  ends  of  the  world,  Aljahedh 
was  inspired  to  compose  the  earliest  of  Arabic  geographies, 


1 See  the  account  in  Frahn’s  “ Ibn 
Fozlan,”  p.  xxv.,  of  Abdallah  Sidi 
Ghazi’s  Twenty  Years’  Stay  in  the 


Byzantine  Empire  as  a Spy  of  Haroun 
al  Raschid. 


412 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


properly  so  called.  His  “ Book  of  the  Cities  and  Marvels  of 
Countries  ” has  not  come  down  to  us ; according  to  Massoudy, 
it  was  both  inaccurate  and  credulous ; but  if  the  title  may 
be  supposed  to  indicate  the  contents,  it  laid  down  the  method 
usually  followed  by  the  main  school  of  Arabic  writers,  who 
limited  their  work  to  a description  of  the  earth  itself.  For 
it  was  at  the  same  time  a “ book  of  cities  ” or  a gazetteer, 
and  a “ book  of  marvels  ” or  a collection  of  natural  history, 
folk-lore,  and  fairy  stories  ; and  almost  every  Oriental 
geographer  or  historian,  however  scientific  in  aim,  tends  in 
practice  to  confuse  these  varieties.  To  speak  more  generally, 
Arabic  scholars  of  every  class  are  constantly  neglecting  to 
keep  fact  and  fancy  strictly  apart.  Thus  even  Albyrouny 
scatters,  in  the  midst  of  his  most  severe  inquiries  on  the 
“ Categories  of  Indian  Thought  ” and  the  “ Chronology  of 
Ancient  Nations,”  stories  and  narratives  which,  though  never 
merely  fabulous,  are  often  trivial,  and  simply  illustrate  the 
underlying  fancy  or  poetic  spirit  of  the  writer.  But  Alby- 
rouny is  in  the  main  an  exception  to  this  common  failing  of 
Asiatics ; few  clearer,  stronger,  and  more  subtle  minds  than 
his  ever  illuminated  the  course  of  Moslem  thought.  It  is 
in  the  work  of  such  as  Massoudy  that  we  see  a more  fair  and 
full  example  of  this  characteristic  of  Oriental  treatment. 
Into  a treatise  like  the  “Meadows  of  Gold  and  Mines  of 
Precious  Stones  ” the  author  pours  every  fact  that  he  has 
collected,  every  story  that  he  has  heard,  every  fancy  that 
has  impressed  his  imagination.  The  result  is  a medley  of 
history,  geography,  astronomy,  chemistry,  poetry,  mathe- 
matics, metaphysics,  and  a hundred  other  things — so  many 
pearls,  as  the  author  would  have  said,  all  strung  together 
on  a single  thread, — the  story  of  the  rise  and  triumphs  of 
Islam.  Selection,  concentration,  judicious  and  typical  illus- 
tration, a dramatic  limitation  of  subject,  a critical  use  of 


VII.]  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AEABIC  GEOGRAPHY.  413 


material — these  and  other  faculties,  so  highly  prized  in 
classical  and  modern  literature,  are  here  not  wholly  absent, 
but  largely  overruled  by  other  feelings.  Above  all  things? 
the  Oriental  wished  to  be  interesting,  to  tell  all  that  he  had 
to  say,  to  give  in  one  view  his  interpretation  of  the  world,  to 
present  in  one  collection  every  tradition  that  he  had  received. 
He  poured  the  whole  contents  of  his  note-books  or  of  his 
memory  into  the  finished  work;  and  order,  arrangement, 
the  pursuit  of  a definite  line  of  thought,  were  to  him  but 
secondary  matters.  For  in  him  the  ruling  faculty  was 
imagination,  and  to  his  imagination  the  infinite  complexity 
of  life  and  nature  most  strongly  appealed. 

Aljahedh  was  not  a practical  traveller,  and  his  imperfect 
book  knowledge,  or  the  misleading  tales  of  voyagers,  led  him 
to  imitate  the  old  Greek  superstition  and  connect  the  Nile 
and  Indus  as  one  river.  But  extensive  journeys  by  land 
and  sea  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Caliphate  were  now 
beginning ; and  elementary  mistakes  like  the  aforesaid  were 
fast  being  made  impossible,  by  such  men  as  Soleyman  the 
merchant,  who  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  at  the 
time  of  closest  intercourse  between  China  and  the  Moslem 
world,  travelled  to  the  farthest  East  by  sea.  To  the  voyages 
of  this  Sindbad  we  shall  soon  have  to  refer  again.  But 
before  we  leave  the  time  of  Almamoun  we  must  notice  at 
least  one  other  name.  Abou  Yousouf  Yakoub,  surnamed 
“Alkendy,”  from  his  connection  with  the  noble  house  of 
Kenda,  was  entrusted  by  the  Caliph  (c.  a.d.  830)  with  a super- 
vision of  the  translations  then  being  made  from  Greek, 
Indian,  and  Persian  sources.  He  was  the  reputed  author  of 
more  than  two  hundred  volumes,  a number  which  probably 
includes  the  work  of  some  of  his  disciples.  To  one  of  the 
latter  was  due  the  “ Book  of  Routes  and  Principalities,”  so 
warmly  praised  by  Massoudy ; while  a combination  of  savants 


414 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


was  probably  responsible  for  the  Alkendian  version  of 
Ptolemy,  and  for  the  well-known  treatise  on  the  Tides, 
referred  to  by  writers  of  this  epoch. 

The  impulse  given  by  Almamoun  did  not  die  with  him. 
The  ninth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  the  third  of  the 
Hegira,  was  crowded  with  Moslem  scientists  and  travellers. 
About  a.d.  840  Sallam,  surnamed  the  Interpreter  from  the 
many  languages  with  which  he  was  acquainted,  was  entrusted 
by  the  Caliph  Wathek-Billah  with  the  exploration  of  various 
regions  to  the  north  of  the  Mussulman  Empire.  He  was 
especially  charged  with  the  search  for  the  monstrous  peoples 
of  Gog-Magog,  and  for  Alexander’s  wall.  Sallam  passed 
through  Armenia  and  Georgia,  crossed  the  Caucasus,  and 
visited  the  Khazars  of  the  Volga  River,  then  at  the  height  of 
their  prosperity.  Proceeding  onwards,  he  made  the  circuit 
of  the  Caspian,  explored  a large  part  of  the  Ural  and  Altai 
ranges,  and  returned  to  Mesopotamia  by  Bokhara  and 
Khorasan.  A few  years  later  the  famous  Djafar,  surnamed 
Abou  Maschar  (the  Albumazar  of  the  Latin  Middle  Ages), 
commenced  his  work  as  an  astronomer — work,  however, 
which  only  in  a very  secondary  sense  bore  any  reference  to 
geographical  knowledge.  A late  tradition  makes  him 
journey  to  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  to  initiate  himself  into 
Brahmin  science ; Massoudy,  at  any  rate,  copies  from  him  a 
description  of  the  monsoon  in  the  Indian  Ocean;  but  he 
clearly  belonged  to  the  more  abstract  and  mathematical 
school. 

The  later  years  of  the  ninth  century  were  remarkable  (as 
we  know)  from  the  fact  that  they  marked  the  zenith  of  Arab 
and  Moslem  intercourse  with  China,  on  the  eve  of  the 
revolution  of  878.  How  extensive  this  intercourse  had 
become  is  witnessed  by  Abou  Zeyd  Hassan  of  Siraf  and  the 
anonymous  traveller  who  has  been  identified  with  Soleyman 


VII.]  ALJAHEDH — ALKENDY — SALLAM—  SOLEYMAN.  415 


the  merchant.1  These  accounts  not  only  give  us  a .descrip- 
tion of  the  various  coasts  and  seas  to  the  south  and  south- 
east of  Asia,  but  tell  of  the  meeting  of  Chinese  and  foreign 
merchants  along  the  whole  extent  of  a great  line  of  trade 
which  stretched  from  the  Persian  Gulf  and  Bassora  in  the 
west,  to  the  Yellow  Sea  and  Khanfu  City — a Hongkong 
of  the  ninth  century  2 — in  the  east.  Abou  Zeyd  moreover 
narrates  the  journey  of  his  friend  Ibn  Yahab  to  the  Court  of 
China,  and  his  memorable  interview  with  the  Emperor, 
wherein  that  potentate  owns  the  superior  majesty  of  the 
Caliphate;  cross-examines  his  visitor  upon  the  history  of 
the  Prophets;  shows  him  the  portraits  of  Christ  and  of 
Mohammed;  and  dismisses  him  with  a lecture  for  equivo-* 
•eating. 

The  anonymous  author  who  reproduces  the  narrative  of 
-Soleyman,  takes  us  by  sea  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  China. 
From  the  Maldives  to  Ceylon,  from  Ceylon  to  the  Andamans, 
from  the  Andamans  to  Khanfu,  he  records  the  natural 
features,  the  marvels,  and  certain  characteristics  of  the 
natives  in  each  place  he  touches  at.  Thus,  as  to  the  four 
stopping-points  just  named,  ambergris,  cocoa-nuts,  and 
female  sovereignty  he  considers  especially  noteworthy  in 
the  first ; Adam’s  Peak,  the  giant  footstep  of  the  Patriarch 
(or  of  Buddha),  and  the  ruby  mines,  in  the  second  ; canniba- 
lism in  the  third ; the  foreign  merchants  in  the  last.  The 
•course  of  navigation  from  Bassora  also  passed  by  Siraf, 


1 The  two  were  translated  and 

edited  together  by  Renaudot  in  1718 
(English  Version  1733);  later  works 
•on  the  same  subject  were  composed 
by  Reinaud  in  his  “Relations  des 
Voyages  dans  l’lnde  et  a la  Chine  . . . 
dans  le  ixe  siecle,”  1845  (which  gives 
the  best  version  of  the  “ Two  Travel- 
lers”), and  in  his  “ Memoire  . . . sur 


1’Inde,”  1846.  See  also  Walckenaer 
in  “Nouvelles  Annales  des  Voyages,” 
1832  (1),  and  Bretschneider  on  the 
other  side  of  the  question,  “ Know- 
ledge possessed  by  the  . . . Chinese 
of  the  Arabs,”  London,  1871. 

2 The  Quinsay  of  Marco  Polo; 
the  Hang-cheu-[fu]  of  the  modern 
Chinese. 


416 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch.. 


Muscat,  the  Malabar  coast,  and.  “ the  gates  of  China  ” 
(the  straits  of  Malacca  ?) ; and  so  to  the  Sea  of  Pitchy 
Darkness  on  the  east  coast  of  Asia.  The  description  has 
all  the  charm  of  freshness  and  originality — the  flavour 
that  pervades  the  early  writings  of  the  men  of  any  leading 
race  in  a subject  or  a field  of  action  lately  discovered  or 
opened  up  by  them,  and  offering  worthy  material.  This  is 
obvious  enough  in  some  of  the  stories  which  are  every  now 
and  then  added  to  the  main  narrative.  Near  the  Andamans 
Soleyman  describes  an  island  with  mines  of  silver  : — 

“ And  here  once  a boat-load  of  men  came  off  from  a ship  and  kindled' 
a fire  on  the  shore,  and  they  saw  silver  run  from  beneath  it ; wherefore- 
•they  shipped  as  much  of  the  earth  or  ore  as  they  thought  good.  But  as 
they  went  on  their  voyage  the  sea  was  stirred  by  so  furious  a gust,  that  to 
lighten  the  ship  they  threw  overboard  all  their  ore.” 

Since  that  time,  concludes  the  story  with  a touch  of  mystery,. 
“ the  mountain  has  been  searched  for  with  care,  but  it  has 
never  since  been  seen.”  Again,  the  waterspout  was  watched 
with  wonder,  and  described  with  faithfulness,  by  these  early 
Moslem  seamen. 

“ In  this  sea  there  is  often  beheld  a white  cloud  which  at  once  spreads 
over  a ship  and  lets  down  a long  thin  tongue  or  spout  to  the  surface  of 
the  water,  which  it  disturbs  after  the  manner  of  a whirlwind;  and  if 
a vessel  happen  to  be  in  the  way,  she  is  immediately  swallowed  up. 
But  at  length  this  cloud  mounts  again  and  discharges  itself  in  a prodigious 
rain.” 

But  the  greater  part  of  both  these  records  is  taken  up  with 
a description  of  the  habits,  government,  religion,  social 
customs,  and  national  or  tribal  characteristics  of  the  Chinese 
and  the  Indians ; and  we  hear  at  length  about  the  silken 
dress,  the  poll-tax,  the  terrible  punishments,  the  paintings 
and  bells,  tea 1 and  rice-drinks,  drums  and  porcelain  of  the 

1 “A  certain  herb,  which  they  I great  quantities  are  sold  in  all  the 
drink  with  hot  water,  and  of  which  j cities ; it  grows  on  a shrub  more 


VII.]  SOLEYMAN  THE  MERCHANT  ON  CHINA.  417 

one ; and  the  Suttee,  self-torture,  and  caste-system  of  the 
other.  An  interesting  picture  of  the  state  of  the  foreign 
(and  especially  of  the  Arab)  merchants  in  Khanfu  comes 
from  the  original  relation  of  Soleyman.  The  Moslems 
of  China,  according  to  him,  were  under  a kadi  or  judge, 
appointed  by  the  Emperor  himself,  and  invested  with  more 
than  the  authority  of  a modern  consul-general.1  The 
administration  of  the  Custom-house  was  strict,  but  not  unfair 
or  illiberal.  When  merchants  at  this  time  entered  China 
by  sea,  their  cargo  was  seized,  and  conveyed  to  warehouses 
for  six  months.  Then  a tax  of  three-and-thirty  per  cent, 
was  taken  on  each  commodity,  and  the  rest  returned  to  the 
owner.  The  Emperor  had  the  right  of  pre-emption ; but  he 
paid  to  the  “ utmost  fraction  of  the  value,”  and  so  “ dispatched 
his  business  immediately  and  without  the  least  injustice.” 
Foreign  merchants,  like  the  natives,  were  taxed  “ in  propor- 
tion to  their  substance  ; ” and  if  they  wished  to  travel — for 
even  this  was  not  forbidden  them — they  were  obliged  to 
take  a passport  from  the  Governor  of  the  district  and  another 
from  his  lieutenant;  giving  also,  as  they  passed  from  one 
place  to  another,  a full  account  of  themselves,  their  family, 
position,  and  business.2 

This  early  Arab  study  of  the  Far  East  recorded  its 
impression  that  India  was  greater  in  extent  “by  one-half” 
than  China,  but  not  so  populous;  for  in  the  Indies  were 


bushy  than  the  pomegranate,  and  of 
a more  taking  smell,  but  with  a kind 
of  bitterness.  The  Chinese  boil 
water,  which  they  pour  upon  this 
leaf,  and  this  drink  cures  all  sorts  of 
diseases.” 

1 For  China  till  the  end  of  the 
ninth  century  was,  to  some  extent,  a 
commercial  State ; its  exclusiveness 
was  the  creation  of  circumstances. 


2 This  is  all  confirmed  from  other 
sources,  and  sufficiently  credible; 
but  the  Anonymous  had  got  hold  of 
an  odd  story  about  Chinese  punish- 
ment of  bad  governors,  that  they 
were  eaten ; and  his  generalization 
can  hardly  be  accepted,  “that  the 
Chinese  usually  eat  all  those  that  are 
put  to  death.” 

2 E 


418 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


“ many  desert  tracks,”  but  China  “ was  peopled  throughout 
its  whole  extent.”  The  India  of  these  descriptions  was 
pretty  certainly  the  whole  vast  tract  between  the  Indus  and 
the  Gulf  of  Tonquin ; their  China  is  much  the  same  as  ours, 
and  does  not  of  course  include  Thibet,  Mongolia,  or  any 
part  of  Turkestan. 

Abou  Zeyd  originally  undertook  the  simple  task  of 
reading,  revising,  and  re-issuing  the  anonymous  relation 
of  a.d.  851 ; but  living  as  he  did  after  the  revolution  of 
878,  he  is  naturally  led  into  the  composition  of  a supple- 
mentary account,  in  which  he  corrects  some  mistakes  of  the 
older  narratives,  records  the  travels  of  Ibn  Vahab,  and 
describes  the  sack  of  Khanfu  and  the  consequent  collapse 
of  foreign  trade  with  the  Celestials.  An  officer  of  rank,  he 
tells  us,  revolted  in  the  year  of  the  Hegira  264  (a.d.  877-8) ; 
got  together  a multitude  of  vagabonds  and  abandoned 
people  ; and  marching  on  Khanfu,  took  the  city  after  a long 
siege.  He  put  all  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword ; and,  besides 
Chinese,  there  perished  in  this  massacre  120,000  Moslems, 
Jews,  Christians,  and  Parsees,  “who  were  there  on  business 
of  traffic.”  The  rebel  cut  down  all  the  mulberries  and  other 
trees  of  the  district,  ruined  for  a season  the  silk  trade,  and 
drove  the  Emperor  from  his  capital.  At  last  the  “ plague  ” 
was  stamped  out  by  Tartar  armies ; but  the  Empire  of  China 
continued  in  a miserable  state,  torn  by  civil  war,  plundered 
by  brigand  Mandarins,  and  disgraced  by  cannibalism. 

“ From  all  this,”  concludes  the  Arab,  “ arose  unjust  dealings  with  the 
merchants  who  traded  thither,  so  that  there  was  no  outrage,  no  treatment 
so  bad  but  they  exercised  it  upon  the  foreign  traders  and  the  masters  of 
ships.  And  for  these  things  has  God  punished  them  by  withdrawing  His 
blessing,  and  especially  by  causing  that  navigation  to  be  forsaken,  so  that 
the  merchants  returned  in  crowds  to  Siraf  and  Oman,  according  to  the 
infallible  orders  of  the  Almighty  Lord,  whose  name  be  blessed.” 

Abou  Zeyd  moreover  had,  from  the  lips  of  Ibn  Vahab 


VII.] 


IBN  VAHAB’S  VISIT  TO  CHINA. 


419 


himself,  when  “already  advanced  in  years,  but  having  all 
his  senses  perfectly  about  him,”  a description  of  the  Chinese 
Court  and  country  at  a date  subsequent  to  the  journey  of 
Soleyman,  but  apparently  earlier  than  the  sack  of  Khanfu ; 
and  the  whole  of  his  narrative  is  remarkable  for  its  bearing 
on  Arab  intercourse  with  the  most  distant  parts,  and  for  its 
illustration  of  the  Arab  spirit.  It  is  Sindbad  the  Sailor 
under  other  names. 

“ There  was  a man  of  the  tribe  of  Koreish  (Mohammed’s  own),”  says 
Abou  Zeyd,  “ who  was  named  Ibn  Vahab,  and  he  dwelt  at  Bassora.  And 
once,  when  that  city  was  sacked  [by  a band  of  pirates  from  the  Zanzibar 
coast,  in  a.d.  870] /he  left  Bassora  and  came  to  Siraf,  where  he  saw  a ship 
ready  to  sail  to  China.  And  the  mind  took  him  to  go  on  board  of  this 
ship,  and  in  her  he  went  to  China,  where  he  had  the  curiosity  to  visit  the 
Emperor’s  Court.  He  came  to  Khanfu,  and  so  travelled  to  Kumdam  [or 
Singanfu,  one  of  the  Imperial  residences  at  that  time],  after  a journey  of 
two  months.  And  here  he  stayed  a long  time,  and  presented  several 
petitions,  signifying  that  he  was  of  the  family  of  the  Prophet  of  the  Arabs. 
And  when  he  had  his  audience,  the  Emperor  asked  him  many  questions 
about  the  Arabs,  and  particularly  how  they  had  destroyed  the  kingdom 
of  the  Persians.  Ibn  Vahab  made  answer  that  they  did  it  by  the  assis- 
tance of  God,  and  because  the  Persians  were  involved  in  idolatry,  adoring 
the  stars,  the  sun,  and  moon,  instead  of  worshipping  the  true  God.  To 
this  the  Emperor  replied  that  the  Arabs  had  conquered  the  most  illus- 
trious kingdom  of  the  whole  earth,  the  best  cultivated,  the  most  opulent, 
the  most  pregnant  of  fine  wits,  and  of  the  most  extensive  fame.  Then 
said  he,  What  account  do  the  people  in  your  parts  make  of  the  other 
kings  of  the  earth  ? To  which  the  Arab  replied  that  he  knew  not.  Then 
said  the  Emperor  to  the  interpreter,  Tell  him  we  esteem  but  five  kings ; and 
that  he  whose  kingdom  is  of  widest  extent  is  the  same  who  is  master  of 
Irak  [Babylonia]  ; for  he  is  in  the  midst  of  the  world,  and  surrounded  by  the 
territories  of  other  kings ; and  we  find  he  is  called  the  King  of  Kings.  After 
him  we  reckon  our  Emperor,  here  present,  and  we  find  that  he  is  styled 
the  King  of  Mankind ; for  no  other  king  is  invested  with  a more  absolute 
power  and  authority  over  his  subjects ; nor  is  there  a people  under  the  sun 
more  dutiful  and  submissive  to  their  sovereign  than  the  people  of  this 


1 Aboulfeda,  ii.  pp.  228,  238,  etc.  I tion  of  the  “ Two  Travellers,”  p. 
(Remaud);  also  see  Reinaud’s  edi-  | cxix. 


420 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


country ; we,  therefore,  in  this  respect,  are  the  Kings  of  Men.  After  us 
is  the  King  of  the  Turks,  whose  kingdom  borders  upon  us,  and  him  we 
call  the  King  of  Lions.  Next,  the  King  of  Elephants ; the  same  is  the 
King  of  the  Indies,  whom  we  also  call  the  King  of  Wisdom,  because  he 
derives  his  origin  from  the  Indians.  And,  last  of  all,  the  King  of  Greece, 
whom  we  style  the  King  of  Men ; for  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth 
there  are  no  men  of  better  manners,  nor  of  comelier  presence,  than  his 
subjects.  These,  he  added,  are  the  most  illustrious  of  all  kings,  nor  are 
the  others  to  be  compared  with  them.  Then,  says  Ibn  Vahab,  he  ordered 
the  interpreter  to  ask  me  if  I knew  my  Master  and  my  Lord,  meaning  the 
Prophet,  and  if  I had  seen  him  ? I made  answer,  How  should  I have 
seen  him,  who  is  with  God  ? He  replied,  This  is  not  what  I mean ; I ask 
you  what  sort  of  a man  he  was  in  his  person.  I replied  that  he  was  very 
handsome.  Then  he  called  for  a great  box,  and,  opening  it,  he  took  out 
another  contained  therein,  which  he  set  before  him,  and  said  to  the 
interpreter,  Show  him  his  Master  and  his  Lord  ; and  I saw  in  the  box  the 
images  of  the  Prophets,  whereat  I moved  my  lips,  praying  to  myself  in 
honour  of  their  memory.  The  Emperor  did  not  imagine  I should  know 
them  again,  and  said  to  the  interpreter,  Ask  him  why  he  moves  his  lips  ? 
I answered,  I was  praying  in  memory  of  the  Prophets.  How  do  you 
know  them?  said  the  Emperor.  I replied  that  I knew  them  by  the 
representation  of  their  histories.  There,  said  I,  is  Noah  in  the  Ark,  who 
was  saved  when  God  sent  down  the  waters  of  the  Flood ; and  I made  the 
usual  salute  to  Noah  and  his  company.  Then  the  Emperor  laughed,  and 
said,  You  are  not  mistaken  in  the  name  of  Noah,  and  you  have  named 
him  right ; but  as  for  the  universal  Deluge,  it  is  what  we  know  not.  It 
is  true,  indeed,  that  a Flood  covered  a part  of  the  earth ; but  it  reached 
not  to  our  country,  nor  even  to  the  Indies.  I made  my  answer  to  this  ; 
and  then  said  I again  to  him,  There  is  Moses  with  his  rod  and  the  children 
of  Israel,  and  there  is  Jesus  upon  an  ass,  and  here  are  His  Apostles  with 
him.  Ah,  said  the  Emperor,  He  was  not  long  upon  the  earth,  for  all  He 
did  was  transacted  within  the  space  of  little  more  than  thirty  months. 
After  this  Ibn  Vahab  saw  the  histories  of  the  other  Prophets,  represented 
in  the  same  manner  we  have  briefly  declared. 

“ Then,  says  the  same  Ibn  Vahab,  I saw  the  image  of  Mohammed 
riding  upon  a camel,  and  his  companions  about  him  on  their  camels,  with 
shoes  of  the  Arab  mode  on  their  feet,  and  leathern  girdles  about  their 
loins.  At  this  I wept,  and  the  Emperor  commanded  the  interpreter  to 
ask  me  why  I wept  ? I answered,  There  is  our  Prophet  and  our  Lord, 
who  is  also  my  cousin.  He  said  I was  right,  and  added  that  he  and  his 
people  had  subdued  the  finest  of  all  kingdoms ; but  that  he  had  not  the 
satisfaction  of  enjoying  his  conquests,  though  his  successors  had.  I 


VII]  IBN  VAHAB  AND  THE  EMPEROR  OF  CHINA.  421 


afterwards  saw  a great  number  of  other  Prophets,  whom  the  interpreter 
took  to  be  those  of  their  land  (of  China)  and  of  India. 

“The  Emperor  then  asked  me  many  questions  concerning  the  Caliphs- 
and  their  mode  of  dress,  and  concerning  many  precepts  of  the  Mohammedan 
religion,  and  I answered  him  the  best  I could.  After  this  he  said,  What 
is  your  opinion  concerning  the  age  of  the  world  ? I made  answer  that 
opinions  varied  upon  that  head ; that  some  were  for  six  thousand  years,  and 
that  some  others  reckoned  more  and  some  less.  At  this  the  Emperor  and 
his  first  minister,  who  was  near  him,  broke  out  into  a laughter,  and  the 
Emperor  made  many  objections  to  what  I had  advanced.  At  last  said  he, 
What  does  your  Prophet  teach  upon  this  subject?  Does  he  say  as  you 
do  ? My  memory  failed  me,  and  I assured  him  that  he  did.  Hereupon 
I observed  I had  displeased  him,  and  his  displeasure  appeared  upon  his 
countenance.  Then  he  ordered  the  interpreter  to  speak  to  me  in  the 
following  strain : Take  heed  of  what  you  say,  for  kings  never  speak  but 
to  be  informed  of  the  truth  of  what  they  would  know.  How  can  there  be 
among  you  various  opinions  concerning  the  age  of  the  world  ? If  so  it 
be,  you  are  also  divided  upon  the  things  your  Prophet  has  said,  at  the 
same  time  that  no  diversity  of  opinion  is  to  be  admitted  on  what 
the  Prophets  have  pronounced,  all  which  must  be  revered  as  sure  and 
infallible.  Take  heed,  then,  how  you  talk  after  such  a manner  any  more. 
At  last  he  asked  me,  How  is  it  that  you  have  forsaken  your  king,  to  whom 
you  are  nearer,  not  only  by  the  place  of  your  abode,  but  by  blood  also, 
than  you  are  to  us  ? In  return  to  which  I informed  him  of  the  revolutions 
which  had  happened  at  Bassora,  and  how  I came  to  Siraf,  where  I saw  a 
ship  ready  to  spread  sail  for  China ; and  that,  having  heard  of  the  glory  of 
his  empire  and  its  great  abundance  of  necessaries,  curiosity  excited  me  to 
a desire  of  coming  into  his  country,  that  I might  behold  it  with  mine  own 
eyes.  And  I said  that  I should  soon  depart  for  my  country  and  the 
kingdom  of  my  cousin,  and  that  I would  make  a faithful  report  of  what  I 
had  seen  of  the  magnificence  of  the  empire  of  China  and  of  the  vast  extent 
of  the  provinces  it  contained,  and  that  I would  make  a grateful  declaration 
of  the  kind  usage  and  the  benefactions  I there  met  with, — which  seemed  to 
please  him  much.  He  then  made  me  rich  gifts,  and  ordered  that  I should 
be  conducted  to  Khanfu  upon  post-horses.  He  wrote  also  to  the  governor 
of  the  city,  commanding  him  to  treat  me  with  much  honour,  and  to  furnish 
me  with  like  recommendations  to  the  other  governors  of  the  provinces. 
Thus  was  I treated  everywhere,  being  plentifully  supplied  with  all  the 
necessaries  of  life,  and  honoured  with  many  presents  till  my  departure 
from  China.” 

Abou  Zeyd  then  adds,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  upon 


422 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


the  original  narrative  of  Soleyman  the  merchant,  a wildly 
distorted  story  of  the  wreck  of  a Siraf  vessel  being  carried  by 
wind  and  tide  round  Eastern  and  Northern  Asia  into  the 
Caspian  (which  he  supposed1  to  flow  into  the  Northern 
Ocean),  round  Northern  Europe  into  the  Mediterranean,  and 
round  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  on  to  the  shore  of 
Syria,  where  it  was  at  last  stranded  and  recognised  by  its 
peculiar  make,  “ the  boards  not  being  nailed,  but,  as  it  were, 
sewn  together.”  He  gives  no  hint  of  the  old  freshwater 
canal  from  the  Nile  to  the  Eed  Sea,  which  had  now  been 
closed  for  a century  and  a quarter  or  more  ; on  the  contrary, 
he  speaks  of  the  separation  between  the  “ Sea  of  Aden  ” and 
the  “ Sea  of  Syria  ” as  the  work  of  God,  and  so  eternal  and 
unchangeable. 

The  narrative  of  another  Arab  merchant,  from  the 
province  of  Khorasan  (who,  like  Ibn  Yahab,  had  travelled  to 
China  and  brought  back  an  account  of  his  success  in  obtain- 
ing justice  from  the  Emperor  against  a fraudulent  official), 
leads  Abou  Zeyd  to  a description  of  Khorasan,  “ almost 
conterminous  with  China,”  since  “from  China  to  the  Sogd” 
of  Samarcand2  it  was  only  two  months’  journey.  Yet  an 
almost  impassable  desert  (the  great  plain  of  Gobi  or  Shamo) 


1 Yet  Abou  Zeyd  was  a contem- 
porary and  friend  of  Massoudy,  who 
knew  far  better.  Reinaud  (“Rela- 
tions,” pp.  xvi.-xxiii.)  has  pointed 
out  several  highly  probable  parallels 
between  the  “ Meadows  of  Gold  ” and 
the  “Two  Travellers.”  Abou  Zeyd 
does  not  appear  to  have  journeyed 
much  himself,  and  hence  probably 
his  Caspian  and  other  blunders ; but 
he  tried  to  follow  the  best  written 
authorities,  and  his  friendship  with 
Massoudy  was  of  service  to  both  of 
them. 

2 The  Siraf  ships,  says  Abou 


Zeyd,  dare  not  attempt  to  navigate 
the  Red  Sea  higher  than  Djeddah, 
the  port  of  Mecca.  This  sea  is  “ not 
like  that  of  India  and  China,  whose 
bottom  is  rich  with  pearls  and 
ambergris  ; whose  mountains  are 
stored  with  gold  and  precious  stones  ; 
whose  gulfs  yield  ivory  ; and  g-mong 
whose  plants  are  ebony,  red  wood, 
brazil,  aloes,  camphor,  nutmegs, 
cloves,  sandal-wood,  and  all  other 
aromatics ; among  whose  birds  parrots 
and  peacocks  ; among  whose  rarities 
musk  and  civet.” 


Til.]  ABOU  ZEYD  ON  THE  FAR  EAST  AND  SOUTH.  423 


prevented  much  trade  or  even  war  on  the  north-east.  Only 
towards  the  border  of  Thibet  was  overland  intercourse  to  be 
had  with  the  Flowery  Land,  and  by  this  route  most  probably 
travelled  the  Arab  traders  mentioned  by  Abou  Zeyd,  and 
notably  “ one  who  had  a vessel  of  musk  on  his  back,”  and 
tramped  on  foot  from  Samarcand  to  Khanfu,  traversing  “ all 
the  cities  of  China  ” on  the  way. 

The  wealth,  the  fanatic  and  ferocious  self-devotion,  the 
intricate  idolatry,  and  the  moral  baseness  of  the  Indians  are 
.successively  touched  on  by  the  Moslem  writer,  who  saw  in 
their  case  the  fulfilment  of  the  Koranic  text,  “ The  wicked 
have  a mighty  pride.”  “We  praise  the  Almighty  and 
glorious  God/’  he  exclaims,  as  he  comes  to  speak  of  the 
famous  idol  of  Moultan,  “ we  praise  Him  who  hath  chosen  us 
to  be  free  from  the  sins  that  defile  the  men  involved  in 
infidelity.” 

Lastly,  we  hear  a little  about  the  semi-barbarous 
southern  shore  of  Arabia ; about  the  troublesome  and 
dangerous  navigation  of  the  Red  Sea ; and  about  the 
Zanzibar  or  East  African  coast,  now  being  rapidly  colonised 
by  Arab  adventurers.  This  land  of  the  negroes  was  of  vast 
extent;  but  its  inhabitants  were  a natural  prey  to  the 
nobler  races  of  the  earth.  “ In  their  heart  they  venerate  the 
Arabs,  and,  when  they  see  one  of  them,  fall  down  and  cry, 
Here  comes  one  from  the  land  of  Date  Palms — for  they  are 
very  fond  of  dates.” 

Christianity  still  survived  in  Socotra  at  this  time,  and 
most  of  its  inhabitants  were  Christians — Christians  of  the 
Nestorian  faith,  no  doubt ; for  the  island  had  long  been  a 
bishopric  and  a mission  centre  of  the  great  schismatic 
communion ; just  as  in  still  earlier  time  it  had  been  an  out- 
post of  Roman  commerce. 

The  commotions  which  shattered  Chinese  trade  and 


424 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


closed  tlie  country  for  a time  to  foreign  influence  diverted, 
but  did  not  depress,  the  exploring  spirit  of  the  Arabs. 
Their  activity  was  never  higher  than  in  the  seventy  or 
eighty  years  which  lay  between  the  riots  of  878  and  the 
death  of  Massoudy  in  956.  ^Fhis  same  time  was  to  Europe 
and  Christendom  perhaps  the  most  dismal  and  lifeless 
of  epochs — the  interregnum  between  the  extinction  of 
the  Frankish  Empire  of  Charlemagne  (a.d.  888)  and  the 
restoration  of  the  same  as  a purely  German  kingdom  by 
Otto  the  Great  (962).  We  have  seen  already  how  this  time, 
and  indeed  the  whole  century  and  a quarter  which  closed  the 
first  Christian  Millennium  (c.  875-1000),  is  almost  wholly 
barren  of  Latin  exploration  or  geographical  study;  and 
we  may  think  that  the  political  troubles  of  the  time  are  a 
sufficient  reason  for  this  lifelessness;  yet  in  the  Bagdad 
Caliphate  practical  and  scientific  activity  prospers  and 
increases  throughout  this  period  side  by  side  with  govern- 
mental anarchy.  A1  Badi,  who  died  in  940,  was  the  last 
Caliph  who  was  truly  Emperor  as  well  as  Pope ; and  his  reign 
saw  the  end  of  the  domestic  revolution  which  transferred 
the  military  power  of  the  Abbassides  to  their  Turkish 
mercenaries  and  the  Emir  A1  Omra.  For  although  the 
political  coherence  and  persistence  of  the  Arab  race  had 
been  steadily  waning  since  the  days  of  Almamoun,  its 
intellectual  vigour  was  far  from  being  exhausted,  and  not 
even  a temporary  slackening  is  apparent  till  the  eleventh 
century.  It  will  be  convenient  for  us,  however,  to  close  this 
summary  view  of  the  earlier  Moslem  geography  about  a.d. 
950,  for  various  reasons.  First  of  all,  with  Massoudy  and 
certain  others,  his  contemporaries,  closes  the  direct  succession 
of  what  may  be  called  the  school  of  Almamoun.  And 
secondly,  from  this  time  the  leadership  of  scientific  (in 
particular  of  geographical)  interests  now  falls  more  and  more 


VII.]  DECLINE  OF  CALIPHATE— IBN  KHORDADBEH.  425 


to  strangers  and  foreign  courts ; to  men  who  were  not  Arabs 
by  blood,  and  who  were  indeed  religions,  but  not  political, 
subjects  of  the  Caliph.  Albyrouny,  the  greatest  geographer 
of  the  next  age,  is  a client  of  Sultan  Mahmoud  of  Ghazni,  a 
Persian  by  race,  with  an  inborn  hatred  of  the  dominant 
Arabs.1  Thus,  although  the  armies  of  the  Caliphs  no 
longer  conquered,  the  Arab  and  Mussulman  descriptions 
of  past  conquests  were  steadily  becoming  more  and  more 
scientific  and  exhaustive.  Thus  about  a.d.  880,  a Bagdad 
Imam,  Aboul  Abbas  Ahmed,  surnamed  Albeladory,  who  was 
tutor  to  one  of  the  princes  of  the  Boyal  House,  compiled  a 
“Book  of  the  Conquests  of  the  Countries,”  in  which  an 
historical  narrative  was  combined  with  a geographical 
description.  At  the  same  era,  Ibn  Khordadbeh  drew  up  his 
official  notices  of  the  principal  trade-routes,2  which,  as 
Director  of  Posts  and  Police  in  Media,  he  had  been  ordered 
to  furnish  to  the  Caliph. 

As  his  name  proves,  this  “son  of  the  Magian”  was 
descendant  (and,  in  fact,  grandson)  of  a Persian  fire-wor- 
shipper, who,  like  most  of  his  faith  and  nation,  embraced 
Islam,  and  so  made  the  best  of  both  worlds.  His-grandson, 
who  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the  Caliph  Motamed,  was  employed, 
about  the  year  880,  with  the  task  of  ascertaining  the  proper 
taxation  and  the  actual  payments  of  each  of  the  provinces  of 
the  Bagdad  Empire,  and  especially  of  Mesopotamia  and  Irak. 

Ibn  Khordadbeh  had  great  opportunities.  He  might  have 
composed  a work  of  first-class  historical  and  geographical 
value,  if  he  had  been  anything  more  than  a tabulator. 


1 Similarly  the  tenth  - century 

writers,  Mukadassi  and  Hamza  of 
Ispahan,  though  to  a far  less  degree, 
may  be  thought  to  illustrate  the 
decline  of  political  allegiance  within 
the  Caliphate.  Neither  of  them, 


interesting  as  they  are,  call  for  notice 
in  an  account  like  this,  which  only 
deals  with  representative  persons  and 
events. 

2 Between  880-884.  He  died  in 
912. 


426 


ARAB  GEOGRArHY. 


[Ch. 


1 nliappily  his  mental  outlook  was  strictly  limited  by  his 
professional  calling,  and  so  his  book,  for  the  most  part,  is 
thrown  into  the  form  of  a ledger,  or  of  a business  circular, 
rather  than  of  a literary  treatise.  If  he  ever  enters  into 
details,  they  are  usually  those  of  some  romantic  legend. 

The  Caliph’s  postmaster  begins  by  stating  the  aim  of 
the  treatise  required  of  him,  in  a sort  of  dedication  to  his 
sovereign ; and  then  follows  his  “ description  of  routes,  and 
enumeration  of  distances  and  imposts.”  From  one  place  to 
another  is  so  many  miles ; the  distance  traversed  amounts 
to  such  and  such  a land  valuation ; so  much  is  cultivated, 
and  so  much  is  waste ; the  ancient  land-tax  was  so  much, 
and  the  present  so  much,  more  or  less ; — this  is  the  almost 
invariable  form  of  entry,  and  about  a work  of  this  kind 
there  is  more  political  than  geographical  interest. 

But,  besides  the  famous  summary  of  the  great  trade-routes 
quoted  below,  we  have  here  and  there  passages  of  more 
general  value.  Thus  at  the  commencement  of  the  treatise 
I bn  Khordadbeh  gives  a summary  of  his  scientific  views, 
which  are  those  of  a well-educated  disciple  of  Ptolemy,  and 
contrast  very  strikingly  with  contemporary  expressions  from 
the  Christian  and  European  world.  Though  scientific  in  the 
main,  they  reproduce,  however,  some  of  the  “ vain  imagin- 
ings,” among  the  more  solid  results,  of  Greek  and  Latin 
thought ; and  in  one  of  his  comparisons,  that  of  the  universe 
to  an  egg,  the  Arab  assessor  of  taxes  exactly  reproduces  the 
classical  language,  of  which  we  have  already  had  an  echo  in 
Bede. 

The  earth,  he  concludes,  is  round  like  a sphere,  and  is 
placed  in  the  midst  of  the  celestial  area  “ like  the  yellow  in 
an  egg.”  All  bodies  are  stable  on  the  surface  of  the  globe, 
because  the  air  attracts  the  lighter  principles  of  these  bodies, 
while  the  earth  attracts  towards  its  centre  their  weighty 


Til.] 


IBN  KHORDADBEH — GENERAL  VIEWS. 


427' 


parts,  in  the  same  way  that  the  magnet  acts  upon  iron.  The 
earth  is  divided  into  two  parts  by  the  equator,  stretching 
from  west  to  east.  This  answers  to  the  extent  of  the  earth 
in  length,  and  is  the  greatest  line  of  the  terrestrial  globe, 
just  as  the  zodiacal  line  is  the  greatest  of  the  celestial 
sphere.  Again,  the  earth  extends  in  breadth  from  pole  to 
pole,  90°  on  each  side  of  the  equator ; but  it  is  only  inhabited 
for  the  space  of  24°  of  this  latitude  ; the  rest  is  covered  by 
the  great  sea.  The  north  part  of  the  world  which  we 
inhabit  is  alone  habitable ; for  the  southern  part  is  desert 
from  excessive  heat,  and  the  antipodean  land  placed  below 
ours  contains  no  inhabitants. 

So  much  and  more  in  the  same  strain  does  Ibn  Khor- 
dadbeh  give  us  of  general  theory  before  he  begins  his 
catalogues.  In  the  arrangement  of  these  he  pursues  the 
following  plan  : Starting  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Bagdad, 
he  first  treats  of  the  inland  countries  to  the  frontier  of 
China ; then  he  describes  the  coast  route  to  the  Yellow  Sea, 
from  Aden  and  the  Persian  Gulf ; then  he  details  the  western 
routes  from  the  Tigris  to  the  Atlantic ; lastly  he  treats  of  the 
northern  and  southern  extremities  of  the  earth.  The  most 
interesting  part  in  the  treatment  of  Central  Asia  is  the 
description  of  the  Turks,  then  still  outside  the  pale  of  Islam* 
and  classed  as  either  Manicheans  or  fire-worshippers.  Ibn 
Khordadbeh  dwells  at  some  length  on  the  state  of  the 
Turkish  Khan,  his  golden  tent,  and  the  iron  gates  of  his 
chief  town ; 1 and  he  enumerates  among  the  Turkish  tribes 
dwelling  between  China,  Thibet,  and  the  Caspian,  Petchi- 
negs,  Kipchaks,  and  Kirghiz,  whose  land  produced  the  musk 
of  commerce. 

Passing  to  the  southern  sea-route,  we  hear  in  succession 
-of  the  various  ports  of  the  Indian  Ocean — and  first  of  Aden, 

1 Page  22,  in  Goeje’s  edition. 


428 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


where  no  corn  or  cattle  could  be  had,  but  plenty  of  amberr 
aloes,  and  all  the  spices  of  the  East.  In  Ceylon,  we  are  told 
of  Adam’s  Peak  (whose  “summit  is  lost  in  the  clouds, 
though  visible  at  times  to  navigators  some  days’  journey 
distant  ”),  as  well  as  of  the  jewels,  the  wild  beasts,  and  the 
native  dwarfs  of  the  island.  Ibn  Khordadbeh,  who  is  very 
credulous  and  uncritical  on  matters  which  did  not  come 
within  his  own  sphere  of  observation,  gives  some  marvellous 
narrations  about  the  phenomena  of  the  Indian  Sea  ; many 
of  the  facts  to  which  he  alludes  are  treated  with  just  that 
touch  of  legend  which  renders  the  account  useless,  or  even 
pernicious,  rather  than  helpful,  to  science.  Thus  his  whales* 
two  hundred  fathoms  long,  his  serpents  that  devour  elephants, 
or  his  sea-horses — “just  like  those  of  the  land,”  only  that 
their  manes  reach  to  their  feet — are  instances  of  the  fabulist 
spirit  in  a professed  historian.1 

Yet  with  the  thread  of  legend  is  constantly  interwoven 
that  of  observation.  In  a confused  way  he  describes  the 
unique  appearance  of  the  flying-fish,  the  habits  of  the  turtle, 
the  horn  of  the  rhinoceros,  the  double  leaf  of  the  pepper 
plant.  Almost  everywhere  he  contributes  a fable  to  enhance 
the  fact.  Thus  the  rhino’s  horn,  if  cut  open,  displays, 
according  to  him,  the  image  of  a man,  a beast,  a bird,  and  a 
fish,  all  in  white,  on  a dark  ground ; but  he  also  describes 
with  fair  accuracy  the  leading  features  of  the  southern 
Asiatic  coast,  down  to  the  lesser  known  Godavery  and 
Brahmapoutra  rivers,  the  Nicobar  and  Andaman  Islands* 
and  the  kingdoms  of  Assam,  Orissa,  Malaya,  and  Java, — 
where  the  ruler  worshipped  Buddha ; where  was  one  of  the 
famous  volcanoes  of  the  world ; and  where  men  took  ship  for 
the  Spice  Islands.  We  seem  to  hear  an  echo  of  Solinus  in 
the  story  of  the  Indian  island  which  rings  nightly  with  the 


Pages  41,  45,  48,  etc. 


TIL]  IBN  KHORDADBEH  ON  THE  FAR  EAST  AND  WEST.  429 


sound  of  music,  a tolerably  clear  proof  that  it  was  the  resi- 
dence of  an  infernal  spirit;  as  well  as  in  the  story  of  a 
marvel  to  be  seen  in  a neighbouring  island,  such  as  Sancho 
Panza  might  have  wished  to  govern,  where  the  inhabitants 
were  all  apes  in  the  shape  of  asses.1 

Ibn  Khordadbeh  is  less  mythical  when  he  comes  in  due 
course  to  China  itself.  He  describes  the  great  port  of 
Khanfu  and  the  products  of  the  celestial  kingdom  soberly 
•enough;  likewise  the  rivers,  whose  mighty  estuaries  then, 
as  in  the  time  of  Marco  Polo,  were  the  highways  of  a traffic 
astonishing  to  a European,  and  respectable  even  to  an  Arab, 
of  that  age. 

Beyond  China,  Ibn  Khordadbeh  has  pretty  sound  infor- 
mation about  Japan  and  Corea,  both  2 rich  in  gold,  so  that 
in  “ Wak-Wak  ” the  very  dog-chains  and  ape-collars  were 
made  of  the  precious  metal. 

And  now,  having  followed  out  the  Eastern  route  to  the 
furthest  point  known,  the  compiler  gives  us  a series  of 
similar  catalogues  and  notes  on  the  countries,  revenues,  and 
roads  of  the  West,  North,  and  South. 

First,  on  the  track  from  Bagdad  to  the  Atlantic,  he 
repeats,  as  he  has  done  in  his  Eastern  survey,  a certain 
number  of  stories  which  show  how,  in  the  midst  of  his 
statistics,  he  still  preserved  the  spirit  of  a romanticist.  The 
J ordan  he  has  heard  does  not  disappear  for  good  in  the  Dead 
Sea  or  Foetid  Lake ; some  great  authorities  have  traced  it 
again  in  India,  and  their  views  deserve  respect.  In  Spain, 
bordering  as  it  did  on  the  far  distant  land  of  the  Western 
Christians  (“enemies  of  the  Unity  of  God,”  as  the  Arab 


1 Page  48. 

2 The  islands  of  Wak-Wak  in  Ibn 
Khordadbeh  undoubtedly  seem  to  be 
Japan,  though  in  so  many  other 
Arab  writers  they  are  spoken  of  as 


if  off  the  Zanzibar  coast.  With  a 
Ptolemaic  Africa  there  would  be  no 
great  inconsistency  in  this,  as  we 
may  see  from  Edrisi’s  map.  See 
Goeje,  Arabische  Berichte  over  Japon. 


430 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


politely  terms  them),  there  were  many  wonders,  such  as  a 
volcano  in  the  north,  and  all  sorts  of  magic  things  in  the 
old  royal  city  of  Toledo,  where  King  Roderick  and  his 
Goths  discovered  them.  Once  more,  as  to  the  Northern 
and  Western  Ocean,  Ibn  Khordadbeh  reproduces  the  more 
traditional  and  superstitious  view,  natural  to  a man  whose 
horizon  was  strictly  “ Levantine  ” or  even  “ Persian.”  “ The 
sea  that  stretches  beyond  the  land  of  the  Slavs  (on 
the  shore  of  which  is  the  town  of  Thule),  and  the  sea  of 
the  Fortunate  Islands  (Canaries),  are  not  frequented  by 
any  ships,  and  yield  nothing  to  commerce.”  Lastly,  his 
elaborate  and  fairly  creditable  precis  of  the  resources  and 
organization  of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  and  of  the  buildings 
of  Old  Rome,  is  accompanied  by  some  wonderful  tales,  such 
as  that  of  the  Mirror  in  the  Pharos  at  Alexandria,  which 
reflected  all  that  happened  at  Constantinople ; while  the 
whole  of  his  Western  section  is  pervaded  by  the  fancies 
that  the  earth  was  divided  into  three  exactly  equal  parts  of 
cultivated  land,  of  desert,  and  of  sea ; that  the  land  of  the 
blacks  covered  one-sixtieth  part  of  the  surface  of  the  globe, 
and  that  Egypt  was  just  one- sixtieth  part  of  Negroland. 

Although  he  devotes  a separate  section  of  his  compilation 
to  the  countries  of  the  North,  Ibn  Khordadbeh  contents 
himself  here  with  a few  very  imperfect  notes  on  Armenia, 
the  Caucasus,  and  the  country  of  the  Khazars  in  the  lower 
valley  of  the  Volga ; and  his  chief  contribution  to  science 
in  this  section  is  a tale  of  intricate  fancifulness  about  the 
Divine  punishment  of  the  Romans  for  their  sack  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  the  final  accomplishment  of  the  heavenly  vengeance 
after  500  years  by  the  coming  of  Mohammed. 

On  the  lands  and  trade-routes  of  the  South,  we  have  for 
the  most  part  catalogues  of  Arabian  districts,  ports,  cara- 
van stages,  and  land  values;  but  in  this  connection  Ibn 


VII.]  IBN  KHORDADBEH  ON  TRADE  ROUTES  BY  W.  AND  N.  431 


Khordadbeh  gives  us  his  famous  summary  of  the  course  of 
trade  from  West  to  East  in  the  hands  of  Jewish  and  Russian 
merchants.  The  Jews,  according  to  him,  were  the  chief 
middlemen  between  Europe  and  Asia.  They  spoke  Greek 
and  Latin,  Persian  and  Arabic,  the  Frankish  dialects, 
Spanish  and  Slav.  By  one  route  they  sailed  from  the  ports 
of  France  and  Italy  to  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  and  thence 
down  the  Red  Sea  to  India  and  Farther  Asia.  By  another 
course,  they  transported  the  goods  of  the  West  to  the  Syrian 
coast ; up  the  Orontes  to  Antioch ; down  the  Euphrates  to 
Bassora ; and  so  along  the  Persian  Gulf  to  Oman  and  the 
Southern  Ocean.  A distinct  commerce  was  maintained  by 
the  Russians.  From  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  Slav 
countries  they  came  down  to  the  Mediterranean  to  sell  their 
fox  and  beaver  skins.  On  another  side  they  descended  the 
stream  of  Volga,  crossed  the  Caspian,1  and  transported  their 
wares  on  camels  to  Bagdad.  Two  other  overland  ways  from 
the  most  distant  West  are  noticed  by  the  observant  post- 
master. On  the  one  side  merchants  may  leave  Spain, 
traverse  the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  go  from  Tangier  along 
the  northern  fringe  of  the  desert,  to  Egypt,  Syria,  and 
Persia.  This  is  the  Southern  route.  One  may  also  take 
the  Northern,  through  Germany,  across  the  country  of  the 
Slavs  to  the  Lower  Volga  ; thence  descending  the  river  and 
sailing  over  the  Caspian,  the  trader  may  proceed  along  the 
Oxus  Valley  to  Balkh ; turning  north-east,  and  traversing 
the  country  of  the  Tagazgaz  Turks,  the  traveller  finds 
himself  at  last  upon  the  frontier  of  China. 

Having  now  finished  his  fourfold  survey,  Ibn  Khordadbeh 


1 The  town  of  Rey  or  Rai,  to  the 
south  of  the  Caspian,  near  the  present 
Teheran,  was  the  point  where  these 
merchants  met  with  those  of  the 
Levant,  of  the  Danube  Valley,  and 


of  Persia.  Reinaud  refers  (Aboulfeda, 
lix.)  to  the  account  of  this  great  mart 
“ in  the  tenth-century  Arab  MS.  en- 
titled ‘Book  of  the  Countries,’  now 
possessed  by  the  British  Museum.” 


432 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Oh. 


proceeds  to  close  his  work  with  some  notices  of  a 
general  kind.  First  among  these  comes  his  division  of  the 
nabitable  earth.  In  Europe  he  includes  Tangier  and  all 
the  northern  coast  of  Africa  to  the  frontier  of  Egypt ; of 
the  rest  of  the  Old  World,  he  makes  a triple  partition. 
Asia  he  divides  between  “ Ethiopia  ” (which  includes  in  his 
mind  Yemenite  Arabia,  India,  and  even  China),  and 
4t  Scythia,”  or  the  country  of  the  Turks  and  of  the  Russians,1 
with  Armenia  and  Khorasan.  That  portion  of  Africa  which 
he  does  not  . reckon  with  Europe, — in  other  words,  the  Sahara 
and  the  Soudan, — he  calls  Libya,  but  in  this  again  he  insists 
on  comprehending  Egypt.  A more  perverse  assignment 
has  been  rarely  made : for  although  Ethiopia  was  sometimes 
understood  to  cover  a good  deal  of  the  shore-land  of  South- 
Western  Asia,2  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find  an  extension  of 
the  term  to  China  in  any  mediaeval  writer ; while  the  treat- 
ment of  Europe  almost  seems  to  defy  explanation.  No  part 
of  Africa  had  more  steadily  obeyed  the  great  European 
power  of  Rome  than  Egypt.  Yet  Egypt  is  the  single  one 
of  the  North  African  provinces  to  be  excepted  from  the 
apocryphal  Europe  of  this  description. 

Ibn  Khordadbeh  ends,  like  some  of  the  Christian 
geographers  of  this  time,  with  some  casual  remarks  upon 
“ various  notable  things  ” — buildings,  rivers,  mountains, 
valleys,  and  climatic  effects  of  certain  countries ; and  from 
these  we  may  select  a few  instances  which  illustrate  more  or 
less  happily  the  knowledge  and  spirit  of  the  writer,  who  is 
again  representative  of  a thoroughly  second-class  intelligence 
in  the  Moslem  world  of  his  day ; an  intelligence,  however, 


1 At  least  the  part  of  it  inhabited 
by  the  Khazars.  Possibly  his  odd 
arrangement  of  Europe  may  be  due 

to  a confused  reminiscence  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  which  of  course 


dominated  the  African  side  of  the 
Mediterranean. 

2 Just  as  “India”  was  often 
extended  to  include  “ Ethiopia  ” oi 
Tropical  Africa. 


VII.]  VARIOUS  NOTABLE  THINGS  IN  IBN  KHORDADBEH.  433 

which  was  precisely  that  of  the  mass  of  fairly  educated 
Mussulmans. 

1.  The  true  builder  of  the  Pyramids  “ was  known  only 
unto  God,”  but  some  said  that  his  name  was  King  Ptolemy 
the  Claudian, — a delightful  confusion,  which  we  have  already 
met  with  in  the  Kavennese  geographer,  between  the  great 
scientist  of  Alexandria  and  the  Hellenist  dynasty  of  Egyptian 
kings. 

2.  The  wall  of  Gog-Magog  Ibn  Khordadbeh  describes 
minutely  from  the  relation  of  Sallam  to  the  Caliph  Wathek- 
Billah.  In  this  account,  the  real  and  the  legendary  were 
inseparably  confused ; but,  as  we  have  remarked  before,  the 
Moslem  envoy  clearly  accomplished  a good  deal  of  travel 
and  exploration  in  the  lands  around  the  Caspian.  It  is, 
however,  upon  the  more  legendary  side  of  his  narrative  that 
Ibn  Khordadbeh  especially  dwells.  Thus  we  are  told  he 
travelled  twenty-seven  days  “ till  the  sun  became  black 
above  him,  and  emitted  a noisome  odour.”  From  the 
famous  rampart  of  Alexander  he  extracted  an  iron  powder 
by  scraping  one  of  the  bricks,  whose  dimensions  he  ascer- 
tained to  a nicety ; though  by  an  unlucky  oversight  he 
makes  the  height  of  the  gate  surpass  that  of  the  wall  itself. 
Ibn  Khordadbeh  learnt  from  his  informant  all  sorts  of 
interesting  facts  about  the  great  barrier,  its  appearance,  its 
gigantic  key,  and  the  dwarfish  Gog-Magogs  beyond ; but 
the  whole  narrative  contains  no  reality  except  so  far  as  it 
preserves  a confused  tradition  of  the  Wall  of  China;  and 
Ibn  Khordadbeh  is  careful  not  to  locate  this  portent  too 
closely. 

3.  Among  the  “particularities  of  divers  countries,” 
Thibet  produced  in  its  inhabitants,  and  even  in  a visitor, 
an  extraordinary  sprightliness  of  temper.  No  one  ever  felt 
dull  or  melancholy  there.  If  one  went  to  Corea,  the  climate 

2 F 


434 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Cii. 


bad  so  subtle  a cbarm  that,  like  tbe  comrades  of  Ulysses 
among  tbe  Lotus-eaters,  be  wished  to  stay  there  for  ever. 
Whoever  resided  a year  in  Mosul  (Nineveh)  felt  fresh 
strength  rising  within  him.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were 
places  such  as  Ahwaz,  where  one  was  never  free  from  fever, 
and  where  madness  was  only  a question  of  time ; just  as  in 
the  lands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  no  abstinence 
could  save  one  from  excessive  fatness. 

Among  the  latest  Arab  geographers  of  the  ninth  century 
were  Alkateb  and  Kodama,  surnamed  Aboulfaraj  (Abul- 
faragius).1  Both  these  flourished  about  a.d.  890,  and  wrote 
upon  the  different  commercial  tracks,  markets,  frontiers, 
and  physical  features  of  the  lands  of  Islam ; but  works  of 
this  type  were  now  common  enough,  and  added  little  or 
nothing  of  original  value.  Results  of  a higher  kind  were 
aimed  at  by  a group  of  travellers  and  authors,  who  form  a 
fitting  close  to  this  earlier  period  of  Moslem  enterprise. 
Albateny,  Aldjayhany,  Ibn  Fozlan,  Alestakhry,  Ibn  Haukal, 
and  Massoudy  are  all  to  be  found  in  the  first  half  of  the 
tenth  century;  and  together  they  carried  out  the  geogra- 
phical mission  of  the  Arab  race  with  a completeness  not 
hitherto  attained. 

In  purely  scientific  inquiry,  scarcely  any  Moslem  astro- 
nomer threw  more  light  upon  the  relations  of  the  earth 
with  the  heavenly  bodies  than  Mohammed  the  son  of 
Djaber,  known  as  Albateny,  from  his  birthplace  at  Batan 
in  Chaldea.  His  whole  life  was  passed  in  the  study  of  the 
stars ; but  he  was  not  content,  like  many  others,  with  com- 
menting upon  the  Almagest  of  Ptolemy : he  examined 
things  afresh  for  himself,  and  succeeded  in  determining, 


1 The  earliest  of  three  famous 
writers  of  this  name,  not  the  author 
of  the  Kitab  al  Fihrist  (who 


flourished  a.d.  980)  or  the  Historian 
of  the  Dynasties,  who  lived  and 
wrote  in  the  thirteenth  century. 


VII.] 


ALBATENY — ALDJAYHANY — IBN  FOZLAN. 


435 


more  exactly  than  ever  before,  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic, 
the  eccentricity  and  mean  movement  of  the  sun,  and  the 
precession  of  the  equinoxes.  In  the  twelfth  century  the 
introductory  portion  of  his  Astronomical  Tables  was  trans- 
lated into  Latin  by  Plato  of  Tivoli — not  much  to  the 
satisfaction  of  Arabic  scholars. 

In  Aldjayhany,  the  “ man  of  Djayhan,”  who  appears 
about  a.d.  913  as  Vizier  of  a practically  independent 
dynasty 1 in  Khorasan,  we  have  another  proof  of  the  survival 
and  even  heightening  of  intellectual  interest  at  the  time 
of  the  Caliphate’s  disruption.  This  zealous  patron  of 
discovery  made  use  of  his  high  position  to  gather  travellers 
about  him,  to  question  them  on  the  lands  they  had  visited, 
to  procure  fresh  reports  of  neighbouring  countries,  and  to 
compare  these  new  lights  with  the  more  accredited  of  older 
accounts.  From  all  this  was  gradually  produced  under  his 
orders  a “ Book  of  the  Ways  by  which  to  know  the  King- 
doms ; ” ampler  in  detail,  and  more  scholarly  in  construction, 
than  any  earlier  work  of  the  same  kind.  In  particular,  it 
described  the  peoples  and  districts  of  Hindostan  with  such 
fulness  that  it  seems  to  have  formed  the  basis  of  Edrisi’s 
chapter  on  the  same  region.  Aldjayhany  probably  intended 
to  use  his  geographical  collections  for  political  ends;  he 
was  aiming  at  the  conquest  of  Northern  India  and  much 
of  Central  Asia ; and  only  death  prevented  his  attempting 
what  Mahmoud  of  Ghazni  achieved  nearly  a century  later. 

In  a.d.  921  the  Caliph  Moktader-Billah  sent  an  embassy 
to  the  Bulgarians  of  the  Volga,2  who  had  just  embraced 
Islam.  In  the  train  of  this  mission  went  Ahmed  Ibn  Fozlan, 
who  has  given  us  the  first  reliable  picture  of  mediaeval 


1 The  Samanides. 

2 Possibly  prompted  by  a remem- 
brance of  the  early  mission  of  Sallam 


about  a.d.  840  to  the  Caucasus,  the 
wall  of  Gog-Magog,  and  the  country 
of  Samarcand,  etc. 


436 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Cii. 


Bussia.  He  describes  with  admirable  clearness,  accuracy, 
and  good  sense,  the  vast  steppes  over  which  he  travelled, 
and  their  inhabitants,  “the  most  unwashen  of  men  whom 
God  has  created.” 

Unlike  their  Bulgarian  neighbours,  they  retained  their 
pagan  faith  and  manners,  which  were  as  rude  and  blood- 
thirsty as  those  of  any  people.  Private  war,  blood-feud, 
robbery,  and  murder  were  normal  incidents  of  their  life ; 
even  in  their  justice  the  final  appeal  was  to  the  trial  by 
battle.  For  “if  their  king  have  judged  between  two,  and 
they  are  not  content,  he  biddeth  them  decide  their  quarrel 
with  their  swords.” 1 From  their  birth  the  Bussians  were 
trained  to  fight.  “ When  a son  is  born  to  any,  the  father 
putteth  a sword  into  the  hand  of  the  child,  saying,  ‘ That 
only  is  yours  which  you  can  win  for  yourself  with  this.’  ” 

Ibn  Fozlan  first  saw  the  Bussians  as  they  came  down 
the  Volga  to  trade,  and  their  stature  was  the  thing  that  most 
surprised  him.  They  were  “ tall  as  palm  trees  ” in  the  eye& 
of  the  Arab,  and  their  complexion,  “ruddy  and  flesh- 
coloured,”  seemed  remarkable  enough  to  the  bronzed  and 
swarthy  Southerner.  Every  one,  he  noticed,  carried  an  axe,, 
a knife,  and  a sword;  the  last-named  were  of  Frankish 
work,  broad  in  the  blade,  and  wavy  in  the  moulding.  The 
greatest  ornaments  in  their  esteem  were  beads  of  greenish 
glass. 

When  they  descended  the  Volga  for  merchandise,2  their 
habit  was  to  leave  their  boats  at  anchor  in  the  river,  and 
build  themselves  great  wooden  booths  upon  the  banks.  Till1 
the  traffic  was  over  they  lived  in  these ; after  their  business 
was  done,  a business  which  lay  especially  in  slaves,  they 
took  to  their  boats,  and  returned  to  their  own  land. 

Ibn  Fozlan  was,  above  all,  interested  in  their  funeral 
1 Fr'ahn,  “ Ibn  Fozlan,”  p.  3.  2 Fr'ahn,  “ Ibn  Fozlan,”  p.  5. 


VII.] 


I BN  FOZLAN  ON  THE  RUSSIANS. 


437 


customs,  which  included  a variety  of  Suttee.  The  Russian 
dead,  rich  and  poor  alike,  were  burned,  not  buried ; and 
wives  were  expected,  though  not  compelled,  to  die  with 
their  husbands.1  Should  the  woman,  however,  after  agree- 
ing to  so  reasonable  a request,  show  any  wish  to  withhold 
this  trifling  favour,  force  was  used ; and  she  was  not  allowed 
to  disgrace  herself  by  turning  back.  But  this  was  not 
often  necessary ; the  victims  as  a rule  died  “ drunken  and 
happy.”2 

On  one  occasion,  the  traveller  was  present  at  a great 
funeral,  where  the  corpse,  richly  dressed  in  gold-embroidered 
garments  “from  the  land  of  the  Greeks,”  lay  in  a boat  upon 
the  river  while  a tremendous  butchery  took  place  to  appease 
the  spirit.  A dog,  two  horses,  a yoke  of  oxen,  a pair  of 
fowls,  a wife,  and  six  attendants  of  the  departed  chief,  were 
slaughtered  in  succession,  and  all  consumed  together  on 
one  pyre. 

We  can  hardly  be  certain  whether  Ibn  Eozlan  actually 
visited  the  Russian  court  and  saw  the  king,  whose  body- 
guard of  “ four  hundred  brave  young  men,”  under  a 
“general  who  is  their  Vizier,”  is  briefly  noticed  by  him. 
All  he  tells  us  about  their  polity  might  have  been  gained 
by  his  intercourse  with  the  traders  whom  he  saw  among  the 
Bulgarians  of  the  Volga,  and  the  same  applies  both  to  their 
social  customs  and  to  their  religion. 

They  worshipped,  he  tells  us,  wooden  idols,  which  were 
nothing  more  than  beams  planted  in  the  earth,  and  rudely 
shaped  in  their  upper  part  into  the  figure  of  a man.  They 
had  a firm  belief  in  visions,  especially  in  reappearances  of 
their  departed  friends  and  relatives ; but  their  faith,  which 
in  all  emergencies  was  strictly  fatalist,  regarded  as  impious 
any  attempt  to  prolong  the  life  of  the  sick.  When  a Russian 

1 Frahn,  “Ibn  Fozlan,”  p.  11. 


2 Frahn,  “ Ibn  Fozlan,”  p.  13. 


438 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


fell  ill,  lie  was  left  alone  with  some  bread  and  water  to 
take  his  chance.  If  he  recovered,  his  friends  were  glad  to 
welcome  his  return ; if  not,  they  made  haste  to  conciliate 
his  ghost,  not  only  with  a holocaust  such  as  Ibn  Fozlan  has 
already  described,  but  also  with  offerings  of  food  w'liich 
might  have  prevented  death  if  it  had  not  been  wicked  to 
“ fight  against  God.” 

Let  us  now  turn  one  moment  from  land  to  sea.  It  was 
from  the  journeys  of  real  explorers  in  this  time,  explorers 
such  as  Soleyman  the  merchant,  or  Ibn  Valiab,  that  the 
Sindbad  Saga  began  to  take  shape.  It  is  obviously  based 
upon  the  narratives  of  the  “ Two  Mussulman  Travellers  ” 
and  similar  records,  such  as  those  of  Misar  Abou  Dolaf,  son 
of  Mohalhal ; who  in  a.d.  942  accompanied  certain  Chinese 
envoys  on  their  return  from  Bokhara  to  the  Celestial 
kingdom.  Misar  described  the  regions  of  Tartary,  China, 
and  India  which  he  had  visited ; but  of  his  account,  only  a 
few  fragments  have  survived  in  later  compilations.1  Once 
more,  the  narratives  of  Sindbad  have  something  in  common 
with  a “ Book  of  Marvels  ” attributed  to  Massoudy ; and  still 
more  is  borrowed  by  the  Arab  compiler  from  Greek  poetry 


1 Such  as  the  Geographical 
Dictionary  of  Yakout.  Misar’s 
account  (in  fragments)  has  been 
edited  and  translated  by  Schlozer, 
Berlin,  1845,  and  an  English  abstract 
of  the  same  is  given  by  Yule, 

“ Cathay,”  prelim,  essay,  pp.  cxi., 
clxxxvi.-cxciii.  The  narrative  of 
Misar  is  extremely  confused.  On  the 
way  from  Bokhara  to  China  he  seems 
to  have  visited  all  the  Turkish  tribes 
from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Amoor, 
including  the  Baj-Nak  or  Pechinegs, 
the  Khirghiz,  and  the  Tagazgaz.  : 
He  passed  through  Khotan  and  ! 
Thibet,  if  we  may  trust  his  place-  I 


I names,  and  returned  to  the  Caliphate 
i by  the  Southern  Sea  and  the  coasts 
I of  India,  by  way  of  Kalali  (in  the 
! Malay  Peninsula),  Malabar,  Moultan, 
and  Cabul. 

The  chief  value  of  this  lies  in  the 
rarity  of  recorded  overland  journeys 
through  Turkistan  to  China ; and  the 
substance  of  Misar’s  narrative  may  be 
considered  genuine,  but  the  different 
portions  have  been  hopelessly  jum- 
bled together,  and  the  remarks  on 
“ objects  of  interest  ” are  often  in  the 
most  legendary  style  of  Oriental 
history. 


VII.] 


SINDBAD  THE  SAILOB. 


439 


and  myth,  from  the  Indian  tales  of  “ The  Seven  Sages/’  and 
from  Persian  traditions  of  the  later  Sassanid  time.  But 
when  all  this  has  been  admitted,  we  must  still  recognise  in 
the  story  of  Sindbad  a true  history,  in  a romantic  setting, 
of  Moslem  travels  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  The 
exploits  of  many  voyagers  are  here  ascribed  to  one  man ; he 
is  delivered  with  incredible  frequency  of  good  fortune  from 
every  kind  of  danger ; but  there  are  few  of  the  incidents, 
even  the  most  surprising,  that  cannot  be  shown  to  be  at 
least  founded  on  fact. 


The  essential  truthfulness  of  the  Sindbad  Tales  was 
perceived  in  the  last  century  by  some  European  critics,  and 
notably  by  our  own  Richard  Hole,  whose  “ Remarks  ” of 
1797  appear  to  have  been  made  with  the  help  of  nothing 
better  than  Galland’s  imperfect  and  Frenchified  version  of 
the  “ Arabian  Nights  ” and  a good  acquaintance  with  general 
literature,  especially  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics.  But 
an  excellent  critical  judgment  such  as  his  may  often  produce 
surprising  results  with  old-fashioned  and  even  inferior  tools  ; 
and  something  of  the  spirit  and  method  of  Gibbon  himself 
may  be  traced  in  this  essay ; which  Reinaud  has  not  disdained 
to  use  and  to  commend  ; and  which  undoubtedly,  whatever 
its  mistakes,  pointed  out  the  true  way  of  dealing  with  that 
perplexing  kind  of  literature  where  prose  has  been  reset  as 
poetry,  or  a series  of  narratives  recast  as  a series  of  novels.1 


1 See  Richard  Hole’s  “ Remarks 
on  the  Arabian  Nights  Entertain- 
ments, in  which  the  origin  of 
Sindbad’ s Voyages  ...  is  particu- 
larly cousidered,”  London,  1797  ; also 
Reinaud’s  “ Abulfeda,”  preface,  pp. 
77,  78,  etc.,  and  his  “ Memoire  sur 
l’lnde  ” (1849).  Some  help  may  be 
found *in  Renaudot’s  “Anciens  Re- 
lations de  I’lnde  et  de  la  Chine,” 
otherwise  “ The  Two  Mussulman 


Travellers,”  noticed  already ; in 
Reinaud’s  edition  of  the  same  (1845) ; 
in  Langles’ “Voyages  de  Sindbad” 
(1814);  and  in  Walckenaer’s  com- 
mentary in  the  “ Nouvelles  Annales 
des  Voyages,”  1832  (1).  There  are 
a few  useful  notes  in  Lane’s  trans- 
lation of  the  “Arabian  Nights.” 
Reinaud  has  prefixed  to  his  edition 
of  the  “ Two  Travellers  ” an  admir- 
able Discours  prdtiminaire. 


440 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Oh. 


Iii  dealing  with  the  Arabian  Odyssey,  we  are,  of  course, 
at  a loss,  from  the  very  few  definite  indications  of  place 
which  are  vouchsafed  to  us.  Naturally  it  is  not  the  business 
of  the  writer  to  localize  his  marvels;  his  only  aim  is  to 
interest  the  public  of  the  bazaars  and  the  coffee-houses,  who 
would  care  nothing  about  the  reality  of  the  stories  told  them 
so  long  as  they  were  wonderful,  and  certainly  would  not  be 
on  the  watch  for  anything  like  proofs  of  the  actual  occurrence 
of  the  incidents  related.  Precisely  opposite  is  the  interest 
of  the  modern  inquirer.  To  him  the  story  of  Sindbad  is 
valuable,  not  on  account  of  its  extravagances,  but  in  spite  of 
them ; not  because  it  transports  him  into  an  ideal  world, 
but  because,  with  the  best  intentions  to  do  so,  it  is  rarely  if 
ever  successful  in  its  attempt  to  hide  the  present  from  his 
view.  In  the  guise  of  fable,  he  recognises  everywhere 
an  account  of  places  known  to  and  visited  by  men  of 
the  present  day ; and  he  strives  to  restore  the  names  and 
the  positions  which  are  hinted  at  but  not  expressed. 

In  all,  seven  voyages  are  recorded ; but  only  in  two  of 
these,  the  first  and  the  last,  do  we  hear  of  any  destination  or 
goal  of  the  journey.  It  is  equally  certain,  however,  that 
each  of  the  seven  expeditions  had  a like  definite  object,  and 
that  each  brings  us  in  its  course  to  various  definite  parts  of 
the  Indian  Ocean. 


In  the  first  voyage  Sindbad,  being  desirous  of  improving 
his  fortune  by  trade,  realised  his  property,  left  Bagdad,  and 


embarked  at  Bassora  for  the 

1 Very  high  authorities  (eg., 
Reinaud)  have  supposed  these  to  be 
the  Zanzibar  Islands,  but  on  the 
evidence  for  Japan  see  a monograph 
of  M,  de  Goeje  (“  Arabische  Berichte 
over  Japon  ”)  and  his  “ lbn  Khor- 
dadbeh,”  pp.  49, 50.  Langles  believes 
hem  to  be  the  Svnda  Islands ; Lane 


Isles  of  Wak-Wak,1  probably 

(see  “ Arabian  Nights,”  iii.  480,  481) 
again  takes  Wak-Wak  to  be  a general 
name  for  all  the  islands  with  which 
the  Arabs  were  acquainted  to  the 
east  of  Borneo ; but  Kazwini,  whom 
he  quotes  in  support  of  his  view, 
hardly  seems  doubtful  in  his  identi- 
fication of  Wak-Wak  with  Japan. 


Til.] 


SINDBAD’S  FIRST  VOYAGE. 


441 


Japan.  He  passed  by  an  infinite  number  of  small  islands, 
which  from  his  description  may  be  identified  with  the 
Laccadives,  off  the  south-wpstern  coast  of  India.  At  last  he 
landed  on  one  like  a “ garden  of  Paradise ; ” but  it  proved 
to  be  only  a whale’s  back.  The  whale  was  roused  by  a fire 
being  kindled  on  its  dorsal  fin,  and  dived.  Sindbad  was 
thrown  into  the  sea,  which  at  last  carried  him  to  the  Island 
of  the  Mares,  possibly  the  Ilhas  de  Gavallos,  near  Ceylon. 
An  exactly  similar  story  of  a whale  island  occurs  in  the 


As  to  this,  notice  his  three  state- 
ments : 1,  it  is  in  the  sea  of  China  ; 
'2,  it  produces  gold  for  bricks,  dog- 
chains,  and  ape-collars, — in  other 
words,  for  necessaries  and  luxuries 
alike;  3,  no  one  knows  what  is 
beyond  it  save  God.  On  the  other 
islands  mentioned  by  Sindbad  on  his 
first  voyage : 1.  Rahmi  or  Ramni  is 
clearly  identified  with  Sumatra,  the 
Lesser  Java  of  Marco  Polo,  by  a 
comparison  of  the  notices  in  the 
“ Two  Mussulman  Travellers,”  and 
in  the  “ Sindbad  Voyages  ” with  those 
of  Polo,  Edrisi,  Kazwini,  and  the 
later  geographers.  2.  The  island  of 
Sanf,  one  month  and  ten  days  from 
Khanfu,  according  to  the  “Two 
Travellers,”  has  been  plausibly  con- 
jectured by  Marsden  to  be  Tsiampa 
in  Cochin  China,  lat.  13°  N. ; and 
Edrisi  supports  this  by  calling  it 
a Chinese  island.  3.  Kalah  is  in 
the  Malay  Peninsula,  and  not 
Coulam  in  Malabar,  as  Lane  tries 
to  prove.  In  Heyd’s  view,  it  is  the 
furthest  point  of  Sindbad’s  travels 
eastwards.  4.  Kamar,  famous  for 
the  Kamari  aloes  ofSindbart’s  narra- 
tive, is  stated  by  Edrisi  to  be  only 
three  miles  from  Sanf,  but,  in  spite 
of  this,  some  have  identified  it  with 
Cape  Comorin.  5.  Lane,  apparently 
influenced  by  Sir  William  Jones,  who 


is  followed  by  R.  Hole,  identifies 
Zapage  or  Mihraj  with  Borneo  abso- 
lutely ; but  this  seems  rather  uncer- 
tain (see  Purchas,  “ Pilgrims,”  V.  i. 
2 ; Ramusio,  i.).  True,  Pigafetta 
and  Maximilian  of  Transylvania 
give  a description  of  the  King  of 
Borneo  in  Magellan’s  time  (a.d. 
1520),  rather  similar  to  Sindbad’s; 
and  the  latter  mentions  precisely 
the  same  want  of  a good  breed  of 
native  horses  in  his  kingdom.  In 
all  this  we  are  at  a loss,  from  the 
vague  language  of  the  Arab  geo- 
graphers and  the  entire  change  of 
place-names  since  their  day ; and  are 
often  thrown  back  upon  inference 
from  local  products,  which,  of  course, 
are  frequently  found  in  many  lands, 
and  thus  are  a very  hazardous  and 
uncertain  form  of  proof.  May  not 
the  true  explanation  of  Sindbad’s 
Mihraj  be  found  in  the  empire  of 
Java,  which  at  this  time  (ninth  and 
tenth  centuries  a.d.)  included  most 
of  the  Malay  peoples  and  some  part 
of  the  continent  of  India ; which  as  a 
whole  was  often  called  the  kingdom 
of  Zabedj  (=  Zapage);  and  whose 
sovereign  enjoyed  the  title  of  Maha- 
raja (?  Mihraj  ).  See  Reinaud’s  edition 
of  the  “ Two  Travellers,”  p.  lxxiv., 
and  Massoudy  as  cited  by  Reinaud 
in  that  place. 


442 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Cm. 


Christian  romance  of  St.  Brandan  ; but  the  saint’s  comrades, 
unlike  the  Arab  merchant,  have  time  to  get  back  to  their 
ship  from  the  quaking  and  deceptive  soil.  The  Eastern 
tale  also  asks  us  to  believe  that  the  whale  had  slumbered  on 
the  surface  long  enough  for  a fine  soil  to  accumulate,  for 
lofty  trees  to  grow,  and  for  rivers  to  form  themselves.  But 
in  both  cases  it  is  the  same  imprudence  of  the  sailors  that 
brings  about  the  catastrophe. 

From  the  Island  of  the  Mares 1 Sind  bad  is  taken  by  the 
friendly  grooms  of  King  Mihraj  to  a country  abounding  in 
camphor  and  pepper,  which  is  probably  one  of  the  Spice 
Islands  beyond  the  Malay  Peninsula,  and  which  seems  to 
be  intended  in  a mention  by  the  “ Two  Mussulman  Travel- 
lers ” of  a country  near  Sumatra.  Sindbad  only  gives  us 
the  name  of  the  sovereign,  Mihraj,  possibly  the  “ Maharaja  ” 
of  the  then  powerful  Java,  who  reappears  in  the  sixth 
voyage  as  the  “ Solomon  of  the  Indians ; ” the  “ Two 
Travellers  ” add  the  place-name  of  Zapage  “ under  a King 
Mihraj  and  not  far  from  Rahmi,”  a common  Arab  designa- 
tion of  Sumatra. 

In  the  kingdom  of  Mihraj,  Sindbad  meets  his  old  cap- 
tain, recovers  his  property,2  and  sets  out  on  his  return  to 
Bassora ; but  before  this  he  records  various  wonders  of  that 
distant  sea— an  island  called  Kasil,  “ where  is  heard  nightly 
the  beating  of  drums ; ” fish  three  hundred  feet  in  length, 
but  so  fearful  that  they  could  be  scared  away  by  the  beating 
of  two  sticks ; and  other  birdlike  creatures  that  swam  in  the 
ocean,  but  had  heads  like  owls. 

The  first  of  these  portents  was  a cherished  belief  of  the 


1 With  this  legend,  cf.  Homer, 
“ Iliad,”  books  xix.,  xx.  (lines  264, 
etc.),  and  a somewhat  similar  story 

in  Ibn  Khordadbeh. 


2 Which  he  had  left  on  shipboard 
when  he  landed  on  the  whale-island 
with  the  exploring  party. 


VIL] 


SINDBAD’S  SECOND  VOYAGE. 


443 


mediaeval  world,  which  we  have  had  already  in  Solinus,  of  a 
mountain  in  West  Africa ; which  Ibn  Khordadbeh  puts  in 
the  Southern  Ocean ; and  which  Argensola  in  the  sixteenth 
century  actually  locates  according  to  native  tradition  in 
Banda,  possibly  the  very  spot  now  pointed  out  to  Sindbad. 
“ Cries,  whistles,  and  roarings  ” were  reported  by  the  Chris- 
tian narrator  as  having  issued  from  that  island  for  many 
ages,  and  Argensola  is  irresistibly  driven  to  the  same  con- 
clusion as  the  Arab  sailor  : “ Long  experience  has  shown 
that  the  spot  is  inhabited  by  devils.”  1 

Sindbad’s  description  of  the  whales  and  flying  fish  of 
this  sea  is  almost  exactly  in  the  words  of  Ibn  Khordadbeh ; 
and  with  the  Moslem  device  for  scaring  away  the  great 
Cetaceans,  we  may  compare  the  Greek  story  of  Nearchus 
on  his  voyage  from  the  Indus  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  sounding 
his  trumpets  with  terrifying  effect  against  a whole  school 
of  sea-monsters.2 

In  his  second  voyage,  Sindbad  is  marooned  on  an 
unnamed  island  by  his  treacherous  companions,  who,  from 
the  adventure  that  follows,  may  be  supposed  to  have  sailed 
for  the  Zanzibar  coast.  In  his  desolation,  the  castaway 
finds  a roc’s  egg.  With  his  customary  savoir  faire , he 
infers  that  the  roc  itself  will  soon  return  to  hatch  the 
“great  white  dome”  before  him.  Very  soon  the  sun  is 
darkened  by  the  flight  of  the  giant  bird,  that  could  take 
up  an  elephant  with  a single  claw.  It  descends  upon  its 
egg,  broods  over  it,  and  sleeps — “ extolled  be  the  perfections 
of  Him  that  sleepeth  not.”  Sindbad  promptly  ties  himself 


1 Argensola,  “ History  of  the  Mo- 
luccas.” Sindbad  is  even  more  ex- 
plicit; he  tells  us  the  name  of  the 
chief  devil.  It  was  El  Dejjal,  head 
of  the  Genii  in  rebellion  against 

Allah. 


2 For  the  Arab  language  about  the 
owl-headed  fish,  we  may  compare 
Father  Martini’s  similar  language 
about  the  parrot-beaked  variety  in 
the  sea  near  Canton. 


444 


ARAB  GEOGRArHY. 


[Ch. 


to  a leg  of  the  monster,  and  is  carried  by  it  when  it  awakes 
to  the  Valley  of  Diamonds ; in  modem  language,  from 
Madagascar  to  India.  The  roc  alights  to  pick  up  a serpent, 
and  Sindbad  at  once  unties  himself,  rather  dizzy  with  his 
flight,  and  with  an  unpleasant  consciousness  that  he  has 
only  fallen  from  bad  to  worse ; for  the  Valley  of  Diamonds 
swarms  with  gigantic  snakes,  and  its  sides  are  of  inacces- 
sible height  and  steepness.  Suddenly  he  is  roused  by  a 
piece  of  meat  plumping  down  in  front  of  him.  It  flashes 
across  his  mind  that  the  old  story  of  the  Diamond  Valley 
was  true  after  all,  though  hitherto  he  had  supposed  it  to 
be  fable.  At  once  he  took  advantage  of  the  deliverance 
thus  offered.  He  tied  himself  to  the  meat,  and  everything 
happened  in  the  orthodox  manner.  An  eagle  came  down 
for  the  flesh,  and  carried  him  up  with  it.  When  it  reached 
its  nest,  the  diamond  merchants  rushed  out  to  see  if  any 
jewels  had  stuck  to  the  carcase  they  had  just  thrown  down. 
They  drove  away  the  bird,  and  found  their  meat  without 
jewels,  but  with  Sindbad  adhering  to  it  instead.  They 
expressed  some  natural  disappointment,  until  that  crafty 
adventurer,  who  had  taken  care  to  line  his  clothes  with 
diamonds  before  his  last  flight,  produced  enough  to  reward 
their  trouble.  After  his  escape,  Sindbad  traded  with  great 
profit  in  the  Camphor  Islands ; where  he  describes  with  per- 
fect accuracy  the  native  method  of  obtaining  the  drug  by 
boring  in  a tree  and  catching  the  sap  as  it  ran  out  in  a 
standing  vessel,  like  the  caoutchouc  or  indiarubber  of  South 
America.  He  adds  the  favourite  and  highly  fabulous  story 
of  the  rhinoceros  spitting  the  elephant  on  its  horn,  and  so 
carrying  it  about  without  any  inconvenience  from  the  extra 
weight. 

Ho  one  of  the  voyages  has  excited  more  derision  than 
this,  but  something  may  be  said  even  for  the  roc  and  the 


VII.] 


sindbad's  second  voyage. 


445 


Valley  of  Diamonds.  And  first  as  to  the  roc.  “ In  form,” 
wrote  Marco  Polo,  “it  is  said  to  resemble  the  eagle,  and 
those  who  have  seen  this  bird  assert  that  its  wings  when 
spread  measure  sixteen  paces  in  length  ; ” 1 and  he  tells  us 
that  a feather  was  brought  to  Kublai  Khan  of  the  size  of 
ninety  spans,  and  that  all  his  informants  were  agreed  that 
the  bird  was  no  griffin  or  creature  of  fable,  half  bird  and 
half  beast,  but  a gigantic  eagle.  Modern  zoologists 2 have 
reconstructed  for  us  the  aepiornis  of  Madagascar,  a bird  six 
times  the  size  of  the  ostrich,  one  of  whose  eggs  is  now  pre- 
served at  Paris ; and  the  moa  (or  dinornis)  of  New  Zealand, 
which  reached  a height  of  eighteen  feet  as  it  stood  upright, 
is  described  in  old  Maori  hunting  songs.  Once  again,  both 
the  vulture  of  South  Africa  and  the  albatross  of  the  far 
Southern  Ocean,  Avhose  wings  have  been  known  to  spread 
to  fifteen  feet  and  upwards,  have  been  quoted  as  possible 
sources  of  the  roc  legend.3 

Secondly,  on  the  Valley  of  Diamonds,  and  the  method 
of  obtaining  them  by  birds  of  prey,  a precisely  similar 
account  is  given  by  Marco  Polo  of  “ certain  deep  valleys  ” 
in  the  kingdom  of  Murfili  or  Golconda ; and  much  the  same 
is  said  by  St.  Epiphanius  of  Cyprus  (about  a.d.  400)  of  a 
valley  “ in  the  desert  of  great  Scythia.” 4 Benjamin  of 


1 If,  as  we  may  suppose,  this  1 
“ pace  ” was  the  ordinary  one  of  2J 
feet,  the  spread  of  the  roc’s  wings 
would  be  40  feet. 

2 Especially  Owen  and  Geoffrey 
St.  Hilaire. 

3 Kippis,  in  his  “Life  of  Cook,” 
p.  146,  records  the  finding  of  a 

gigantic  bird’s  nest  in  an  island  off 
New  Holland  (Australia),  twenty-six 
feet  round  and  two  feet  eight  inches 
in  height.  On  the  size  of  the  roc,  cf. 
also  Pigafetta’s  account  in  his  narra- 
tive of  Magellan’s  voyage  (Ramusio, 


i.  369).  The  existence  has  also  been 
conjectured  of  birds  of  the  eagle 
tribe,  who  preyed  on  the  Moa. 

4  In  his  treatise  on  the  twelve 
stones  on  the  High  Priest’s  breast- 
plate (“  De  XII.  Lapidibus  Rationali 
Sacerdotis  infixis  ”).  Epiphanius 
was  bishop  of  Salamis  in  Cyprus, 
and  died  a.d.  403.  In  his  account, 
the  diamond  hunters  skin  lambs  and 
throw  down  their  carcases,  which 
are  brought  up  by  eagles  with 
diamonds  sticking  to  them. 


446 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Cii. 


Tudela  in  the  twelfth  century  repeats  the  story,  and  some 
trick  of  the  sort  seems  to  have  been  really  practised  at 
some  time  or  other,  though  perhaps  only  as  a makeshift 
on  a particular  occasion,  and  not  as  a custom. 

Sindbad’s  third  voyage  seems  to  have  been  intended  for 
China,  but  his  ship  is  thrown  away  on  the  coast  of  the 
Mountain  of  Apes,1  possibly  in  Sumatra,  and  the  crew  next 
falls  into  the  power  of  a negro  cannibal,  one-eyed,  most 
terrible,  with  projecting  lips  and  tusk-like  teeth — an  Arabic 
Polyphemus.  Escaping  from  his  clutches,  like  Ulysses  from 
the  Cyclops,  by  grinding  out  the  monster’s  only  eye,  Sindbad 
makes  his  way  to  a place  he  calls  Selakit,  where  sandal-wood 
was  abundant,  probably  Timor.  Here  and  in  the  neigh- 
bouring Moluccas  he  got  great  store  of  spices,  and  noticed 
various  wonders  of  the  deep — gigantic  turtles,  sea-cows, 
and  sea-camels  (dugong  or  manatee  ?).  From  the  Clove 
Islands  he  again  returned  to  Bagdad,  “ the  abode  of  peace.” 

Three  such  voyages  might  have  contented  him,  but  a 
wicked  desire  of  prying  into  what  the  Creator  had  kept 
hidden  drove  him  once  more  to  sea ; when  of  course  he  was 
soon  wrecked  on  a cannibal  island,  producing  pepper  and 
cocoa-nuts  (the  Andamans  ?),  where  the  “ ghouls  ” and 
“ magi  ” who  inhabited  it  offered  their  captives  a food  which 
destroyed  their  reason,  and  then  fattened  them  for  eating.2 


1 These  apes  he  describes  as  filthy 
little  dwarfish  men,  covered  with  hair 
like  black  felt,  and  measuring  two 
feet  in  height.  For  these,  cf.  Marco 
Polo’s  account  of  the  Pigmies  of 

Sumatra,  which  Polo,  with  his  usual 
acuteness,  perceives  to  be  monkeys 
(ourang  - outangs),  bk.  iii.  ch.  xii. 
"William  de  Rubruquis  tells  of  simi- 
lar dwarfs  in  Cathay,  and  his  account 
was  noticed  with  special  interest  by 
Roger  Bacon  (see  Purchas,  iii.  32,  j 
58).  The  classical  references  to  the  I 


Pigmies,  as  Homer,  Iliad,  iii.  5; 
Pliny,  H.  N.  vii.  2,  are  mainly  based, 
no  doubt,  upon  the  dwarf  tribes  of 
central  Africa,  but  Ptolemy  puts 
certain  Satyr  islands  (Nij aoi  ruu  2ar- 
vpuv)  off  the  coast  of  India,  beyond 
the  Ganges,  just  where  required  by 
the  Sindbad  story.  The  adventure 
with  the  negro  is  of  course  pure 
myth,  copied  in  every  detail  from 
Odyssey  ix. 

2 Cf.  Ptolemy’s  islands  off  Further 
India,  inhabited  by  men-eaters  called 


Til.]  SINDBAD’S  THIRD,  FOURTH,  AND  FIFTH  VOYAGES.  447 


Sindbad  alone  avoided  tbe  “insane  root,”  and  so  escaped 
after  a time  to  tbe  sea-shore,  where  he  was  rescued  by  some 
white  men  gathering  pepper.  They  took  him  to  their  own 
-country,  where  he  married  and  settled.  Then  follows  the 
marvellous  tale  of  his  being  buried  alive,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  land,  with  his  dead  wife ; and  of  his  deliver- 
ance by  following  the  track  of  an  animal  that  came  into 
the  cavern  of  the  dead  from  the  sea  by  a little  hole.  This 
adventure,  which  in  some  ways  recalls  the  escape  of  Aristo- 
menes  of  Messina  in  the  Spartan  war  (by  his  clutching  hold 
of  a fox’s  tail),  is  very  difficult  to  locate.  One  must  be  con- 
tent with  remarking  that  soon  after  leaving  the  country, 
whose  uncomfortable  funeral  ceremonies 1 he  had  just  expe- 
rienced, Sindbad  passes  the  island  and  city  of  the  Bell, 
which  he  places  at  ten  days’  sail  from  Ceylon,  on  the 
western  side  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal. 

On  his  fifth  voyage,  the  traveller  is  cursed  with  sacri- 
legious companions.  Binding  a roc’s  egg  on  an  island 
unnamed,  they  break  it  up,  pull  out  the  young  bird,  kill 
and  eat  it.  Their  fate  was  like  the  crew  of  Ulysses,2  when 
they  killed  the  oxen  sacred  to  Apollo.  The  parent  rocs 
pursued  the  ship  and  shattered  it  with  huge  stones,  which 
they  dropped  from  above.  Sindbad  alone  escaped,  upon  a 
plank,  to  an  “ island  like  a delicious  garden ; ” where  he  met 
the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  who  has  generally  been  identified 


Maniolse  (bk.  vii.).  The  madden- 
ing herb  given  by  the  cannibals  to 
the  sailors  may  be  compared  with 
the  lotus  - eating  episode  in  the 
Odyssey ; with  Plutarch’s  story  of 
a similar  report  of  Mark  Antony’s 
soldiers ; and  with  Davis’s  account  of 
Sumatra  in  1599.  (Purchas’s  “Pil- 
grims,” i.  120.)  Hole,  pp.  99,  100, 
refers  as  a parallel  to  the  Bhang- 


eating so  frequently  mentioned  in  tbe 
“ Arabian  Nights  ” themselves  ; but 
the  effect  of  this  was  deep  sleep,  and 
not  madness. 

1 Cf.  Mandeville’s  story  of  a Far 
Eastern  custom  of  male  as  well  as 
the  usual  female  suttee  ; but  this  he 
says  was  voluntary,  and  so  probably 
exceptional. 

2 Odyssey,  xii. 


448 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


with  one  of  the  huge  apes  of  Borneo  or  Sumatra.1  With 
this  agree  all  the  notes  that  are  given  us  by  Sindbad  about 
his  appearance  and  habits.  He  never  spoke,  we  are  told ; 
he  lived  on  fruits ; his  skin  was  like  a buffalo’s  for  rough- 
ness; the  strength  and  clinging  power  of  his  legs  were 
immense.  Finally,  he  had  all  the  imitative  folly  of  the 
monkey  race.  Once  he  saw  Sindbad  merry  with  wine,  he 
wished  to  be  so  too ; as  Sindbad  drained  his  calabash  at  a 
draught,  so  did  he ; and  drunkenness  caught  him  off  his 
guard. 

We  next  find  Sindbad  trading  in  pepper  and  aloes-wood 
off  the  Camaree  coast,  in  which  we  may  recognise  the  Komar 
of  the  “ Two  Mussulman  Travellers,”  and  the  Coromandel 
of  modern  India ; and  near  this  part  of  the  world  the  adven- 
turer employs  divers  with  great  success  in  pearl  fishery,, 
doubtless  in  the  always  famous  oyster-beds  off  Cape  Comorin 
and  Ceylon. 

The  sixth  voyage  (after  the  usual  shipwreck  and  Sind- 
bad’s  escape  by  the  subterranean  river)  deals  only  with 
sober  fact.  In  the  description  of  Ceylon,  which  forms  the 
chief  interest  of  this  narrative,  we  are  told  rightly  enough 
of  its  position  “ under  the  Equator  and  the  Equinox,”  of  its 
dimensions  (250  miles  by  100  miles),2  of  its  famous  mountain 
of  Adam’s  Peak,  of  its  rubies  and  other  jewels. 

But,  besides  repeating  the  ordinary  facts  as  they  might 
be  found  in  Ibn  Khordadbeh,  or  the  classical  descriptions 
of  Taprobane,3  Sindbad  gives  a particularly  graphic  and  full 
account  of  the  presents  sent  by  the  Island  King  to  Haroun 
al  Baschid.  The  yellow  skin  on  which  the  letter  of  greeting 


1  We  may  notice  that  in  Banda,  as 

Hole  points  out,  p.  155,  all  the  essen- 

tials of  the  story  are  found,  even  to 
vines,  which  are  not  too  common  in 


the  Spice  Islands. 

2 Eighty  leagues  by  thirty. 

3 As  in  Diodorus  Siculus,  ii.  4 ; 
Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  vi.  22. 


VII.]  SINDBAD’S  SIXTH  AND  SEVENTH  VOYAGES.  449 


was  written  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  prepared  from 
the  bide  of  the  hog-deer;  and  all  the  presents — the  ruby 
cup,  the  aloes,  the  camphor,  and  so  forth — are  equally 
characteristic  of  Ceylon. 

The  seventh  and  last  voyage  differs  from  all  the  others 
in  some  respects.  First,  the  destination,  Ceylon,  is  dis- 
tinctly stated,  and,  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  it  is 
actually  attained ; again,  with  this  change  of  the  general 
plan,  the  treatment  of  details  is  also  changed.  The  cus- 
tomary shipwreck  is  omitted,  and  the  dramatic  disaster  need- 
ful to  the  story  is  only  introduced  in  the  shape  of  pirates 
on  the  return.  Once  more  Sindbad  now  goes  in  a new 
capacity.  He  is  a private  adventurer  no  longer ; no  longer 
merely  the  owner  of  a ship.  He  now  sails  from  Bassora  as 
the  Envoy  of  the  Caliph  to  Ceylon.  Lastly,  this  journey 
is  a direct  consequent  of  the  gifts  and  compliments  with 
which  Sindbad  was  charged  by  the  Indian  Prince  at  the 
close  of  his  last  voyage.  But  in  the  interval  he  has  become 
a changed  man.  He  now  hates  the  sea,  and  all  thought  of 
further  wandering,  as  much  as  he  once  thirsted  for  it.  To 
him  now— 

“ Hateful  was  the  dark  blue  sky, 

Vaulted  o’er  the  dark  blue  sea, 

Sore  task  to  heart  worn  out  by  many  wars, 

And  eyes  grown  dim  with  gazing  on  the  pilot  stars.” 

Submissive  to  the  will  of  the  Commander  of  the  Faith- 
ful, Sindbad  goes  out  once  more,  and  such  trifling  mis- 
adventures as  a capture  by  pirates  scarcely  make  much 
difference  to  his  persistent  good  fortune.  True,  he  is  for 
a time  a slave ; true,  he  falls  into  the  power  of  a herd  of 
furious  elephants ; but  this  is  only  the  device  of  the  story- 
teller, to  add  one  more  to  the  respectable  and  ancient 
legends  of  animal  sagacity. 

2 G 


450 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


Pliny  and  iElian  1 have  told  of  elephants  adoring  the 
moon,  writing ; or  at  least  understanding,  Greek ; performing 
difficult  exercises  in  arithmetic,  and  so  forth ; but  the  Arab 
has  a finishing  touch  of  his  own  to  give.  It  was  explained 
to  Sind  bad  why  the  elephants,  when  they  had  him  in  their 
power,  not  only  spared  his  life,  but  showed  him  a secret 
hoard  of  ivory.  They  knew  that,  if  they  killed  him,  plenty 
of  other  men  would  come  and  hunt  them  for  their  tusks ; 
what  their  enemies  wanted  was  not  their  bodies  but  their 
ivory,  and  the  best  way  to  quiet  those  same  enemies  was 
to  keep  them  supplied  with  a sufficient  stock  of  the  precious 
article. 

Therefore,  Sindbad  gravely  informed  the  Caliph,  was 
his  life  spared  once  again,  and  his  fortune  afresh  increased ; 
and  Haroun,  adds  the  narrative,  with  beautiful  irony,  though 
he  might  have  disbelieved  such  a tale  from  another  man, 
could  not  doubt  his  sincerity. 

Massoudy,  though  slightly  earlier  in  time  than  his  con- 
temporaries Alestakhry  and  Ibn  Haukal,  closes  his  work 
within  a year  or  two  of  theirs,  and  it  will  be  an  advantage 
to  keep  our  notice  of  him  to  the  last.  As  the  encyclo- 
paedist of  Oriental  geography  in  this  age,  he  affords  a more 
fitting  conclusion  than  any  other  to  this  inquiry  ; the  lead- 
ing figure  must  come,  if  possible,  first  or  last  on  the  pro- 
gramme ; and  there  is  no  serious  distortion  of  time-order  in 
doing  so  here. 

The  Sheikh  Abou  Ishak,  called  Alestakhry,  from  his 
birthplace  in  Estakhar,  or  Persepolis,  travelled  about  a.d. 
950-1  in  most  of  the  countries  of  Islam,  from  India  to  the 
Atlantic,  and  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Caspian  Sea. 
Of  these  journeys  he  composed  an  account  under  the  title 
of  a “Book  of  Climates,”  beginning  with  Arabia  as  the 

1 See  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.,  viii.  44  ; iElian,  Hist.  Animal.,  xi.,  xiii. 


the  world  according  to  ibn  hadkal  (after  reinadd). 


[To  face  p.  451. 


Tir.]  * ALESTAKHRY  AND  IBN  HAUKAL.  451 

central  Moslem  country,  and  devoting  a chapter  to  each 
province  of  the  Caliphate,  with  a coloured  plan  to  illustrate 
each  chapter.  Ibn  Haukal,  whose  real  name  was  Mohammed 
Aboul  Kassem,  performed  a similar  journey,  and  left  a book 
so  nearly  identical  with  that  of  Alestakhry  that  it  has 
caused  great  confusion  to  modern  research.  In  the  valley 
of  the  Indus  the  two  travellers  met  and  exchanged  notes  ; 
at  the  request  of  Alestakhry,  Ibn  Haukal  took  the  former’s 
manuscript  into  his  own  charge,  corrected  it  in  certain 
places,  and  finally  composed  a fuller  record  of  his  own  upon 
the  basis  of  the  other.  For  both  works,  we  have  the  same 
divisions  of  subject-matter,  and  the  same  number  of  chapters  ; 
the  very  expressions  are  often  identical.  But  the  account 
of  Ibn  Haukal  is  more  literary  and  more  developed;  as 
might  be  expected  from  a native  of  Bagdad,  who  from  943 
to  969  seems  to  have  been  travelling  incessantly,  though 
always,  we  may  suppose,  within  the  limits  of  Islam. 

In  the  opening  of  his  “Book  of  Ways  and  Provinces,” 
the  author,  first  begging  the  pardon  of  Glod  for  so  profane 
a task  as  travel,  fortifies  himself  by  the  examples  of  Ibn 
Khordadbeh,  Kodama,  and  Aldjayhany  (whose  writings  he 
had  always  used),  and  indicates  the  plan  of  his  work 

“ I have  described  the  earth  in  its  length  and  breadth ; I have  given 
a view  of  the  Moslem  provinces;  but  I have  taken  no  account  of  the 
division  by  climates,  in  order  to  avoid  confusion.  I have  illustrated  every 
region  by  a map.  I have  indicated  the  position' of  each,  relative  to  other 
countries.  The  boundaries  of  all  these  lands,  their  cities  and  cantons,  the 
■rivers  that  water  them,  the  lakes  and  pools  that  vary  their  surface,  the 
routes  that  traverse  them,  the  trades  that  flourish  in  them, — all  these  I 
have  enumerated : in  a word,  I have  collected  all  that  has  ever  made 
geography  of  interest  either  to  princes  or  to  people.” 

There  are  certain  exceptions,  Ibn  Haukal  tells  us  later, 
which  he  felt  it  necessary  to  make. 


452 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


“ I have  not  described  the  country  of  the  African  blacks  and  the  other 
peoples  of  the  torrid  zone ; because,  naturally  loving  wisdom,  ingenuity, 
religion,  justice,  and  regular  government,  how  could  I notice  such  people 
as  these,  or  magnify  them  by  inserting  an  account  of  their  countries  ? ” 

Coming  to  details,  the  region  of  Islam  is  defined  as 
superior  to  others  in  that  it  is  more  extensive.  Bordering 
alike  upon  the  northern  and  southern  ocean  is  pathless 
desert,  but  inhabited  and  cultivated  ground  stretches  along 
the  diameter  of  the  world,  from  China  to  Morocco.  Of  the 
great  inland  seas,  the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  Mediterranean 
communicate  with  the  outer  ocean,  but  not  the  Caspian. 
Ibn  Haukal  avoids  the  trap  into  which  stumbled  so  many 
Latin  geographers,  and  describes  how  one  may  make  the 
circuit  of  this  great  salt  lake  without  ever  quitting  terra 
firma  except  for  the  crossing  of  rivers.  The  extent  and 
number  of  the  tribes  of  Gog-Magog  (in  Turkestan)  were 
known  “ only  unto  God.”  Wherever  he  leaves  the  Cali- 
phate, Ibn  Haukal  is  vague  and  uncertain.  Sometimes  he  is 
downright  fabulous,  or  rather  Koranic,  as  in  his  story  of  the 
tribe  of  Russian  Jews  who  were  turned  into  monkeys  for 
hunting  on  the  Sabbath.  Here  and  there,  however,  he 
preserves  interesting  and  trustworthy  notices  of  the  outside 
world,  as  in  his  account  of  the  gold  mines  and  (still 
surviving)  Christianity  of  Nubia  ; of  the  white  race  scattered 
among  the  blacks  of  the  Zanzibar  coast ; 1 of  the  idol  of 
Moultan  in  Scinde,  and  of  the  habits  of  the  Tartars  of  the 
Volga.  When  he  tells  us  that  the  Nile  flows  from  the  east 
to  Fostat  (Cairo),  he  repeats  the  language  of  earlier  writers 
who  were  thinking  of  the  freshwater  canal  from  Suez  to 
“Babylon.”  In  a similar  way,  his  language  on  the  Nile 
sources  is  suspiciously  like  certain  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
expressions,  as  to  the  mysterious  river  springing  out  of 

1 These  were  doubtless  the  Arabs  of  the  Emosaid  migration. 


VII.] 


IBN  HAUKAL’S  GEOGRAPHY. 


453 


a cavern  near  the  land  of  Zanzibar,  in  a place  that  could 
be  approached,  but  never  quite  arrived  at. 

Of  all  the  countries  of  Islam,  but  especially  of  Mesopo- 
tamia and  the  region  of  Samar cand,  Ibn  Haukal  has  clear 
and  fairly  accurate  ideas.  When  he  says,  in  his  account  of 
Syria,  that  all  the  Greek  philosophers  came  from  Tyre,  or, 
in  his  account  of  Kurdistan,  that  Saul,  the  King  of  Israel, 
came  from  the  Kurdish  village  of  Shehr  Werd,  he  is  going 
out  of  his  depth,  for  he  has  few  weaker  points  than  ancient 
history.  In  matters  of  his  own  day,  race,  and  religion,  he 
was  far  better  equipped.  Very  curious  and  valuable  are  his 
notices  of  the  contemporary  travels  of  the  men  of  Tarsus,  and 
of  the  inns  or  caravanserais  reserved  for  them  in  every  great 
city  of  Islam,  as  well  as  of  the  fire-temples  still  existing  in 
Persia ; of  the  trade  and  manufactures  of  the  Levantine 
Moslems,  and  of  the  wealth  of  ports  like  Siraf,  where  “ some 
traders  were  possessed  of  four  millions  of  dinars,  and  some 
of  more ; and  yet  their  clothes  were  like  the  clothes  of  hired 
labourers.”  To  Ibn  Haukal,  the  pearl  of  the  earth  was 
Samarcand ; although  he  draws  a picture  of  peace  and  pros- 
perity in  almost  every  region  from  the  Nile  to  the  Oxus, 
and  from  the  Taurus  to  the  Pamir.  But  in  “ Sogd  ” there  is 
something  better  than  the  best.  “ In  all  the  world  there  is 
no  place  more  delightful  or  more  health-giving  than  these 
three — the  Plain  of  Samarcand,  the  Oasis  of  Damascus,  the 
Valley  of  the  Aileh.”  But  the  last  two  do  not  satisfy  Ibn 
Haukal.  “ A fine  prospect  ought  to  fill  the  view  completely, 
and  nothing  should  be  visible  but  sky  and  verdure.”  Now 
Damascus  and  the  Aileh,  though  beautiful,  are  of  small 
extent,  and  encircled  by  desert ; — 

“but  the  Sogd,  for  eight  days’ journey,  is  all  full  of  gardens  and  orchards 
and  villages,  corn-fields  and  villas,  running  streams,  reservoirs,  and 
fountains  both  on  the  right-hand  and  on  the  left ; and  if  one  stood  on  the 


454 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Oh. 


old  castle  at  Bokhara,  one  could  not  see  anything  but  rich  country  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach,  even  to  the  horizon,  where  the  green  of  the  earth 
and  the  azure  of  the  heavens  were  united.” 


The  people  were  suited  to  the  land.  They  spent  their 
money  in  improving  the  roads,  in  building  caravanserais,  in 
repairing  bridges.  “ Such  was  the  hospitality  of  the  in- 
habitants, that  one  would  imagine  all  the  families  of  the 
land  were  but  one  house.”  In  some  dwellings  the  doors 
were  nailed  back  against  the  walls,  and  had  been  so  for  a 
hundred  years  and  more,  so  that  no  stranger  should  ever  be 
denied  admittance.  Food  and  lodgment  were  to  be  had  for 
money  in  above  two  thousand  inns,  without  recourse  to  the 
generosity  of  private  citizens ; yet  every  peasant  allotted  a 
portion  of  his  cottage  for  the  reception  of  a guest,  and  the 
greatest  pleasure  of  the  owner  was  in  persuading  a stranger 
to  accept  his  liberality.1 

By  contrast  with  this,  we  may  notice  how  on  another 
frontier  of  Islam — at  Derbend  under  the  Caucasus — life  was 
less  tranquil;  for  the  savage  Tartar  enemies  of  the  city, 
living  all  around  it,  were  “ as  numerous  as  the  waves  of  the 
sea  that  come  up  to  its  walls.”  Happily  at  “ Atel  on  the 
Volga,”  the  townsmen  had  some  allies — a Jew  king,  a tribe 
of  Christian  Bulgarians,  and  a number  of  Mussulman  mer- 
chants. But,  taken  altogether,  Ibn  Haukal’s  description 
portrays  Islam  at  a time  of  singular  prosperity.  Even  in 
Ferghanah,  where  Moslems  were  obliged  incessantly  to 
watch  the  motions  of  the  Turkish  hordes  beyond  Khokand, 
were  groves  and  gardens  and  orchards,  and  flourishing 
towns  with  rich  bazaars,  many  acres  of  land  sown  with  corn, 


1 Ibn  Haukal  tells  of  a Christian 
church  in  Herat,  but  makes  only 
slight  mention  of  Christianity  in 
Samarcand ; yet  we  know,  both  from 
Albyrouny’s  language  (“Chron.  of 
Ancient  Nations,”  p.  282  in  Sachau’s 


E.  tr.),  as  well  as  from  the  Nestorian 
funeral  inscriptions  lately  discovered 
in  the  Semiretchi,  or  district  of  the 
seven  rivers,  that  Christianity  had 
many  followers  in  Central  Asia 
beyond  the  Oxus  at  this  very  time. 


VII.] 


IBN  HAUKAL— ALFAKABY— MASSOUDY. 


455 


and  furnished  with  windmills  and  watermills,  that  were  not 
known  in  Europe  till  the  first  Crusade. 

Two  works  of  mathematical  geography  were  produced  at 
the  eastern  and  western  extremities  of  the  Mohammedan 
world  while  Ibn  Haukal  was  still  on  his  travels. 

From  the  banks  of  the  Syr  Daria,  Mohammed,  surnamed 
Alfaraby,  born  of  a Turkish  family  at  Farab,  the  modern 
Otrar  in  Ferghanah,  came  to  Bagdad  about  a.d.  920.  He 
studied  logic  and  philosophy  under  two  Christian  or  Hes- 
torian  teachers,  and  his  “Book  of  Latitudes  and  Longitudes,” 
in  which  the  principal  places  of  the  earth  were  not  only 
fixed  but  described,  must  have  been  completed  before  his 
death  at  Damascus  in  950. 

Eleven  years  later  (in  a.d.  961),  Bishop  Harib  presented 
to  the  Caliph  Hakem  of  Cordova  his  Latin  version  of  the 
Arab  Almanac,  in  which,  under  astronomical  and  astrological 
headings,  some  reference  was  made  to  matters  geographical.1 

Several  of  the  writers  and  travellers  we  have  noticed 
enjoyed  in  their  time  no  small  fame,  and  are  referred  to 
with  respect  by  the  later  compilers  and  snmmarists — Yakout, 
Aboulfeda,  and  the  rest.  But  they  have  nearly  all  come 
down  to  us  in  so  fragmentary  a state  that  we  can  form  little 
or  no  idea  of  their  real  merits ; while  those  works  which  we 
possess  in  full,  such  as  the  “ Route  Guide  ” of  Ibn  Khordad- 
beh,  or  the  “ Provinces  ” of  Ibn  Haukal,  are  for  the  most 
part  too  dry  and  tabular  in  their  form,  and  too  brief  in  their 
matter,  to  sustain  a comparison  with  the  encyclopaedic  work 
of  Massoudy. 

Aboul  Hassan  Ali,  a native  of  Bagdad,  was  called  A1 
Massoudy,  because  he  counted  among  his  ancestors  a Meccan 
named  Massoud,  whose  eldest  son  accompanied  the  Prophet 

1 This,  like  the  work  of  Albateny  and  Alfaraby,  will  be  more  fully  con- 
sidered in  the  next  volume. 


456 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


on  the  Hegira,  or  flight  to  Medina.  We  do  not  know  the 
year  of  Massoudy’s  birth,  but  only  that  he  left  his  home  at 
an  early  age,  and  died  in  a.d.  956.  In  the  course  of  his 
wanderings  he  passed  through  every  country  of  the  Moslem 
belt  or  climate,  from  F urther  India  to  Spain.  But  he  also 
penetrated  regions  that  few  Arab  writers  had  described 
before,  and  even  China  and  Madagascar  seem  to  have  been 
within  the  compass  of  his  later  travels.  In  one  place  he 
compares  himself  to  the  sun,  whom  nothing  can  escape,  and 
applies  to  his  own  case  the  verses  of  the  poet : — 

“ I have  gone  so  far  towards  the  setting  sun 
That  I have  lost  all  remembrance  of  the  East, 

And  my  course  has  taken  me  so  far  towards  the  rising  sun 
That  I have  forgotten  the  very  name  of  the  West.” 

Massoudy  visited  successively  Persia,  India,  Ceylon,  the 
lands  of  Central  Asia  from  Ferghanah  to  the  Caspian,  the 
countries  of  Northern  Africa,  Spain,  and  various  parts  of 
the  Greek  or  Eastern  Empire.  In  a.d.  915,  we  find  him  at 
Bassora  and  Persepolis ; next  year  in  India,  in  Palestine, 
and  in  the  Isle  of  Kambalou  (Madagascar  ?),  off  the  eastern 
coast  of  Africa.  Soon  after  this  he  appears  in  Oman  and 
Southern  Arabia ; — and  he  especially  commemorates  another 
visit  to  Bassora  and  his  native  Tigris  Valley,  after  an 
absence  of  nearly  thirty  years,  in  a.d.  943.  Massoudy  was 
not  a specialist  in  any  particular  branch  of  knowledge ; 
although  his  writings  are  a storehouse  of  geographical  fact, 
he  never  composed  a formal  treatise  on  the  subject ; and  he 
has  no  independent  position  as  a mathematician,  an  astrono- 
mer, or  a professor  of  the  exact  sciences  in  any  form.  More 
than  that,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  possessed  that  thorough 
acquaintance  with  other  languages,  such  as  Greek  and 
Sanscrit,  which  was  acquired  by  a man  like  Albyrouny.  As 
we  have  suggested  before,  there  is  a lack  of  order,  of 


VII.] 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  MASSOUHY. 


457 


symmetry,  and  of  selection  in  his  productions ; the  central 
historical  thread  is  sometimes  almost  lost  in  the  digressions, 
and  the  number  of  the  subjects  treated  of  causes  a bewilder- 
ing variety  of  colour.  For  it  was  his  aim  that  there  should 
be  “ no  branch  of  science  or  tradition  ” which  he  had  “ not 
dealt  with,  either  at  length  or  in  brief ; ” and  in  this  com- 
prehensive ambition  it  is  easy  to  recognise  not  only  the 
cause  of  his  defects  in  form,  but  the  secret  of  the  charm  and 
value  of  his  matter.  He  is  not  an  original  thinker,  but  he 
is  an  excellent  observer  and  a first-class  collector  and  trans- 
mitter of  curious  lore;  and  in  him,  as  in  so  many  Orientals, 
was  combined  the  antiquarian  and  the  poet.  Thus  to  him 
there  was  a special  force  and  meaning  in  the  thought  of  the 
impermanence  and  changefulness,  not  merely  of  man,  but  of 
the  earth  which  seemed  so  firm  beneath  him ; and  the  vision 
of  the  old  Arab  seer  of  El  Hirah,  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the 
■“  Meadows  of  Gold,”  is  not  altogether  unworthy  of  com- 
parison with  the  opening  paragraphs  of  the  “ Timseus  ” of 
Plato,  or  even  with  the  sixty-fourth  sonnet  of  Shakespeare, 
as  a comment  on  the  thought : — 

“ When  I have  seen  by  Time’s  fell  hand  defaced 
The  rich  proud  cost  of  outworn  buried  age ; 

When  sometimes  lofty  towers  I see  down-rased, 

And  brass  eternal  slave  to  mortal  rage  ; 

When  I have  seen  the  hungry  ocean  gain 
Advantage  on  the  kingdom  of  the  shore, 

And  the  firm  soil  win  of  the  watery  main 
Increasing  store  with  loss,  and  loss  with  store — 

When  I have  seen  such  interchange  of  state, 

Or  state  itself  confounded  to  decay, 

Ruin  hath  taught  me  thus  to  ruminate  : 

That  Time  will  come  and  take  ” all  things  “ away.”  1 


1 When  Klialed  conquered  Baby- 
lonia, relates  Massoudy,  the  man  of 
El  Hirah,  who  was  sent  to  make 
-terms  with  the  conqueror,  at  first 


seemed  “a  fool,”  who,  “when  one 
thing  was  asked,  answered  another,” 
but  in  the  end  of  the  dialogue  he 
turned  the  tables.  “ What  is  the 


458 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Cm 


The  “ Meadows  of  Gold  ” Massoudy  describes  as  his 
offering  to  “ the  most  illustrious  kings  and  to  the  learned ; ” 
and  in  this  work  he  declares  that  he  has  compressed  together 
everything  that  an  educated  man  should  know,  whether 
elsewhere  described  or  not.  He  considers  herein  the  histories 
of  famous  peoples,  and  especially  of  the  Arabs.  He  indicates 
the  regions  occupied  by  various  nations;  he  distinguishes 
the  different  seas,  canals,  rivers  and  islands  of  the  world,  and 
all  its  physical  features.  He  quotes  the  opinions  of  sages 
on  the  form  and  stability  of  the  globe,  on  the  extent  of  the 
habitable  world,  on  the  size  of  the  seven  zones  or  climates, 
on  the  age  and  duration  of  the  earth,  on  the  cardinal  points 
and  the  stellar  influences. 

The  whole  book  is  divided  into  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  chapters,  containing  in  mere  length  somewhat  more 
than  Hallam’s  “ Middle  Ages  ” and  much  about  the  same  as 
Mommsen’s  “ History  of  Rome.”  The  first  two  sections  are 
prefatory.  The  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  are  devoted 
to  pre-Mohammedan  history,  especially  of  the  Jews ; from 
the  seventh  to  the  seventieth,  we  have  a blend  of  history, 
geography,  and  discussion  on  questions  of  national  manners, 
chronology,  belief,  architecture,  and  so  forth.  The  last 
sixty -three  chapters  are  mainly  occupied  with  the  story  of 
Mohammed  and  the  Caliphate,  with  occasional  digressions. 

Only  a few  of  these  divisions  are  purely  geographical. 


meaning  of  these  fortresses  ? ” asked 
Khaled.  “ They  are  built  for  mad 
people,  who  are  shut  up  in  them  till 
they  come  to  their  senses  ” ( i.e . till 
they  learn  the  truth  of  the  flux  of 
all  things,  and  see  the  folly  of  build- 
ing for  eternity,  or  even  for  a mode- 
rately distant  future).  “And  how 
many  years  have  come  over  thee  ? ” 
“ Three  hundred  and  fifty.”  “ And 


what  hast  thou  seen?”  “I  have 
seen  the  ships  of  the  sea  coming  up 
over  this  firm  land  with  the  goods  of 
Scinde  and  of  India.  The  ground 
that  is  now  under  thy  feet  was  then 
covered  with  the  waves ; where  is 
now  the  sand  of  the  desert  was  once 
full  of  villages,  trees  and  crops, 
canals  and  streams.  So  God  visits 
His  servants  and  His  country.” 


VII.] 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  MASSOUDY. 


459 


such  as  the  eighth,  “ On  the  G-lobe,  the  Seas,  the  Beginning 
of  Rivers,  the  Mountains,  the  Climates,  the  Stars  that  pre- 
side over  them.”  As  a rule,  a particular  country  or  kingdom 
is  only  described  as  to  its  position,  extent,  and  natural 
wonders,  after  its  history  has  been  sketched.  Thus,  in 
chapter  thirty-six,  we  have  the  list  of  Lombard  kings  and 
a summary  of  their  deeds,  before  we  are  supplied  with  an 
account  of  the  country  they  inhabit.  As  Massoudy  proceeds 
in  his  survey,  the  subject  tends  to  narrow  itself  down  to 
a simple  record  of  Islam ; but  a brave  attempt  is  made  in 
the  earlier  chapters  to  realise  the  universal  ambition  of  the 
author.  Thus,  among  nations,  the  Jews,  the  Hindoos,  the 
Chinese,  the  ancient  Assyrians  and  Persians,  the  Pagan 
G-reeks  and  Romans,  the  Christian  Byzantines,  the  Egyptians, 
the  Negroes  of  the  Soudan,  the  Slavs  of  Russia  and  Eastern 
Europe,  the  Franks,  Spaniards,  Lombards,  and  finally  the 
Arabs  in  all  their  divisions  and  dispersions,  pass  in  succession 
before  us.  Again,  in  chapter  eleven,  “all  the  different 
opinions  ” on  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides  are  recorded : in 
chapter  sixteen  we  have  “ a comprehensive  view  of  the 
wonders  of  the  sea : ” and  in  other  places  elaborate  discus- 
sions “ on  the  soul,  intellect,  and  animal  life  ; ” 1 on  ghosts, 
witchcraft,  demons,  and  ominous  sounds  and  signs ; on 
visions,  dreams,  and  the  differences  between  the  rational  and 
irrational  soul ; on  the  calendars  of  the  Copts,  Syrians, 
Greeks,  Persians  and  Arabs,  as  well  as  on  the  revolutions 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  on  the  influences  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  upon  this  world. 

Massoudy’s  treatment  of  some  of  the  vexed  questions  of 
geography  is  especially  interesting.  He  concludes  that  the 
Caspian  was  land-locked,  and  that  it  did  not  connect  with  the 


1 See  chaps,  xlviii.-lxii. 


460 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


Black  Sea  or  with  the  Northern  Ocean.1  On  the  other  hand, 
he  believes  in  a channel  from  the  Sea  of  Azov  to  the  Arctic 
Sea,  as  in  a similar  canal  dividing  Africa  on  the  south  from 
an  Antarctic  continent.  On  his  scheme  the  Indian  Ocean, 
or  Sea  of  Habasch  (Abyssinia),  contains  most  of  the  water 
surface  of  the  world ; and  the  Sea  of  Aral  appears  for  the  first 
time  in  Moslem  geography.  The  girth  of  the  world  he  cut 
down  even  more  than  Ptolemy.  The  latter  had  left  an  ocean 
to  the  west  of  Africa;  the  former  made  the  Canaries  or 
Fortunate  Islands,  the  limit  of  the  known  Western  world, 
abut  upon  India,  the  limit  of  the  Eastern. 

Lastly,  it  may  be  well  to  illustrate  what  we  have  said  in 
general  as  to  Massoudy’s  method  and  subject-matter,  by  a 
few  more  detailed  examples  of  his  merits  or  defects. 

1.  In  his  eighth  chapter  the  size,  shape,  motion,  and 
main  divisions  of  the  earth  are  expounded  in  a way  that  even 
modern  science  must  recognise  as  not  wholly  inadequate. 

“Mathematicians  have  divided  the  earth  into  four  quarters — east, 
west,  north,  and  south — and  into  inhabited  and  uninhabited  worlds. 
They  say  it  is  round,  that  its  centre  falls  in  the  midst  of  the  universe,  and 
that  the  air  surrounds  it  on  all  sides.  The  cultivated  or  inhabited  land 
begins  from  the  Fortunate  Islands  in  the  Western  Ocean  and  goes  to  the 
extremity  of  China, — a space  of  twelve  hours  (in  the  daily  revolution  of  the 
sun),  which  amounts  to  half  the  circumference  of  the  earth,  or  13,500  of 
those  miles  which  are  in  use  in  such  a measurement.  The  breadth  of  the 
habitable  land  extends  from  the  equator  northward  to  the  Isle  of  Thule, 
which  belongs  to  Britain,  and  where  the  longest  day  has  twenty  hours — 
a distance  of  sixty  degrees,  or  one-sixth  of  the  circumference  of  the 


1 In  the  Christian  geography  of 
the  earlier  Middle  Ages,  as  we  have 
seen,  perhaps  to  weariness,  such  an 
idea  was  almost  unknown,  nearly 
everybody  repeating  the  old  classical 
mistake  of  the  Caspian  as  an  arm 
of  the  Northern  Ocean.  The  mis- 
conception referred  to  was  prevalent 


enough  among  the  Arabs,  and  is 
repeated  by  Abou  Zeyd  Hassan  and 
many  others ; but  not  so  unanimously 
as  in  Christendom.  European  ideas 
were  first  properly  corrected  on  the 
subject  by  the  missionary  travellers 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  John  de 
Plano  Carpini,  and  the  rest. 


SUD 


THE  WORLD  ACCORDING  TO  MASSOUDY  (AFTER  REINAUD). 


[To  face  p.  460. 


VII.] 


THE  GEOGKAPHY  OF  MASSOUDY. 


461 


earth.  The  extent  of  the  cultivated  world  is  thus  one-twelfth  of  the  whole 
surface  of  the  globe.” 1 

Then  from  the  observations  of  Ptolemy  and  Almamonn’s 
astronomers,  Massoudy  proceeds  to  give  the  length  of  a 
degree  as  equal  to  56  miles,  the  girth  of  the  world  as  20,160 
miles  (27,000,  according  to  previous  computation),  and  its 
diameter  as  6,414  miles.2  Passing  to  the  spheres,  he  con- 
siders with  Ptolemy,  that  the  revolution  of  the  Zodiac  is  the 
cause  of  day  and  night, — “ for  it  carries  the  sun  and  moon 
and  stars  with  itself  from  east  to  west  round  the  two  poles, 
the  pole  of  the  Bear  and  the  pole  of  Canopus,  once  in  the 
space  of  a day  and  a night.”  In  the  same  way,  Massoudy 
reproduces  the  Alexandrian  astronomer  on  the  questions 
of  latitude  and  longitude,  the  equinoctial  line,  the  poles  and 
the  axis  of  the  world. 

“ The  line  which  cuts  the  sphere  of  the  Zodiac  in  two  from  east  to 
west  is  called  the  equinoctial  line,  because  when  the  sun  is  upon  it  day 
and  night  are  equal  in  all  countries  of  the  world.  Both  poles  are  at  the 
same  distance  from  this  line.  The  direction  in  the  sphere  from  north  to 
south  is  called  Latitude,  and  the  direction  from  east  to  west  Longitude. 
The  spheres  are  round ; they  include  the  earth,  and  turn  round  it  as  a 
circumference  round  the  centre  of  the  circle;  and  the  sphere  which 
makes  the  daily  revolution  turns  round  the  axes,  and  the  poles  just  like 
the  wheel  of  the  carpenter  or  turner.  Those  who  live  on  the  Equator 
have  day  and  night  always  of  equal  length,  and  see  both  poles,  whereas 
those  who  live  in  the  North  never  see  Canopus,  and  those  who  live  in  the 
South  never  catch  sight  of  the  Bear.” 

As  to  the  curvature  of  the  earth,  Massoudy  urges  the  well- 
known  argument  of  the  disappearance  of  objects  at  sea,  and 
makes  use  of  Mount  Damavand  as  an  instance. 

“ This  is  about  twenty  parasangs  from  the  Caspian.  If  ships  sail  on 
this  sea  and  are  very  distant  they  first  perceive  the  north  side  of  the 


1 One-half  by  one-sixth. 

2 A mile  has  4,000  black  cubits  ; 
these  are  the  cubits  of  Almamoun 


for  measuring  cloth,  buildings,  and 
ground ; one  cubit  has  24  inches. 


4G2 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


mountain  towards  the  summit,  and  the  nearer  they  come  to  the  shore 
the  more  is  seen  of  it.  This  is  an  evident  proof  of  the  spherical  form 
of  the  water  of  the  sea,  which  has  the  shape  of  a segment  of  a ball.” 

Along  with  this  clear  and  scientific  exposition,  Mas- 
soudy  repeats  the  pet  story  of  his  race  about  an  earth- 
summit,  the  Arim  of  tradition — 


“a  point  of  the  Equator  on  an  island  between  India  and  Abyssinia, 
which  is  known  as  the  dome  of  the  earth  ; and  is  in  the  middle  between 
north  and  south  as  it  is  in  the  middle  between  east  and  west,  between 
the  Fortunate  Islands  and  the  furthest  regions  of  China,  at  the  point 
where  there  is  no  latitude,  as  Mohammed  Alkharizmy  has  said.” 1 


2.  Massoudy’s  discussion  “ of  seas  and  rivers  ” is  not  less 
philosophic  : — 

“ The  author  of  the  Logic  (Aristotle)  says  that  the  seas  change  their 
places  in  the  lapse  of  centuries  and  the  length  of  ages.  And,  indeed,  all 
seas  are  in  a constant  motion ; but  if  this  motion  is  compared  with  the 
volume  of  water,  the  extent  of  the  surface,  and  the  depth  of  the  abysses, 
it  is  as  if  they  were  quiet.  There  is  no  place  on  earth  that  is  always 
covered  with  water,  nor  one  that  is  always  land,  but  a constant  revolution 
takes  place  effected  by  the  rivers,  which  are  always  shifting,  for  places 
watered  by  rivers  have  a time  of  youth  and  of  decrepitude,  like  animals 
and  plants,  with  this  difference,  that  growth  and  decay  in  plants  and 
animals  manifest  themselves  in  all  parts  at  once,  so  that  they  flourish  and 
wither  at  the  same  time.  But  the  earth  grows  and  declines  part  by  part.” 

Water,  be  thinks,  is  often  produced  by  “ air  that  is  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth,”  for  in  itself  it  is  no  element,  but 
only  the  product  of  the  rottenness  of  the  land  and  its 
exhalations. 

3.  In  his  account  of  the  Nile,  Massoudy  introduces  a 
detail  of  peculiar  interest.  The  great  river  (which  he 
refuses,  unlike  so  many  other  geographers,  to  identify  with 


1 Coming  to  comparisons,  Massoudy 
estimates  the  earth  as  37  times 
greater  than  the  moon,  32,000  times 
greater  than  Mercury,  and  24,000 


times  greater  than  Yenus,  but  only 
equal  to  164th  part  of  the  sun,  one 
63rd  part  of  Mars,  one  82nd  part  of 
Jupiter,  one  99th  part  of  Saturn,  etc. 


VII.] 


THE  GEOGKAPHY  OF  MASSOUDY. 


463 


the  Indus,  merely  because  crocodiles  are  found  in  both1) 
comes  from  the  mountains  of  the  Zanj,  or  the  highlands  that 
front  the  Zanzibar  coast ; it  flows  through  the  Negroland, 
or  Soudan,  and  sends  off  a branch  to  the  Black  Men’s  Sea, 
or  Indian  Ocean.  And  this,  he  proceeds,  is  the  sea  of  the 
island  Kambalou,2  which  is  well  cultivated,  and  the  people 
are  Moslems,  but  speak  the  Negro  language.  The  Moslems 
had  conquered  this  island,  just  as  they  had  taken  the  isle 
of  Crete  in  the  Mediterranean.  Now  this  happened  at  the 
end  of  the  Ommeyad  dynasty,  and  “from  it  to  Oman, 
according  to  sailors,  is  about  five  hundred  parasangs.”  The 
island  in  question  has  been  conjectured  to  be  Madagascar, 
though  it  may  possibly  be  Zanzibar  or  Pemba ; and  the 
Arab  incursions  referred  to  are  almost  certainly  those  of  the 
Emosaid  family  and  their  followers,  which  arose  out  of  an 
abortive  domestic  revolution,  a few  years  before  the  Abbas- 
sides  supplanted  the  House  of  Ommeyah,  and  which 
resulted  in  some  of  the  most  important  contributions  of 
the  Arab  race  to  geographical  knowledge.  It  was  about 
a.d.  742,  less  than  a decade  before  the  change  of  masters 
in  the  Caliphate,  that  the  Emosaid  family,  presuming  on 
their  descent  from  Ali,  tried  to  make  Said,  their  clan- 
chieftain,  Commander  of  the  Faithful.  The  attempt  failed ; 
;and  the  whole  tribe  fled,  sailed  down  the  Bed  Sea  and 
African  coast,  and  established  themselves  as  conquerors, 
colonists,  and  traders  in  the  Sea  of  India.  At  first,  Socotra 
seems  to  have  been  their  mart  and  capital,  but  before  the 
end  of  the  tenth  century  they  had  founded  merchant  settle- 
ments at  Melinda,  Mombasa,  and  Mozambique;  which  in 
their  turn  may  have  led  to  acquisitions  in  the  islands  off 


1 Just  as  a little  later  lie  rejects 

the  delusion  of  some  that  the  Oxus 
.flowed  into  the  Indus — because  the 


head-waters  of  the  two  were  in  places 
not  so  very  far  apart. 

2 Sea  of  the  Zanj. 


464 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


the  coast.1  Massoudy  expressly  tells  us  of  Sofala,  the  most 
distant  of  these  colonies  “at  the  extremity  of  the  country 
of  the  Zanj ; ” and  to  men  who  had  reached  the  coast  of 
Mashonaland  an  attack  on  Madagascar  was  no  great  matter. 

'4.  On  the  Kharizmian  Lake,  or  Sea  of  Aral,  Massoudy 
is  very  explicit,  as  becomes  one  who  has  personally  visited 
what  he  describes.  It  was,  he  says,  the  greatest  lake  of 
all  that  region,  and  many  believed  it  to  be  the  greatest 
of  the  habitable  earth ; in  length  and  breadth  it  was  about 
one  month’s  journey.  It  was  not  without  traffic  and  port 
towns,  mainly  inhabited  by  Turks;  both  the  great  rivers 
of  Balkh  and  Ferghanah,  the  Oxus  and  the  Jaxartes,  flowed 
into  it,  and  boats  plied  upon  the  river  and  the  lake.  Near 
here  was  one  frontier  of  Islam,  beyond  which  dwelt  the 
unbelieving  Turks. 

5.  The  difference  between  the  small,  choppy  waves  of 
inland  seas  and  gulfs,  and  the  huge  rollers  of  the  ocean,  was 
well  known  to  so  extensive  a traveller,  and  is  vividly 
described  by  him,  not  without  some  fanciful  embellishment. 
“ In  the  Sea  of  India  are  blind  waves,  as  high  as  mountains, 
between  which  abysses  open  like  the  deepest  valleys ; but 
they  do  not  break,  and  hence  no  foam  is  generated  by 
collision  as  in  other  seas,  and  many  think  these  waves 
enchanted.  Often,”  adds  Massoudy,  “ have  I been  in  peril 
at  sea,  in  that  of  China,  in  the  Mediterranean,  in  the 
Caspian,  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  off  the  coast  of  Arabia,  but 
never  I found  danger  like  that  of  the  Sea  of  the  Blacks  ” 
(or  of  India). 


1 Massoudy  adds  a confused  tradi- 
tion : “ The  water  which  falls  from 
the  Nile  into  the  sea  of  the  Zanj 
forms  an  estuary,  which  comes  to  the 
upper  part  of  this  river  through  the 
country  of  the  Zanj,  and  separates 


this  country  from  the  remotest  pro- 
vinces of  Abyssinia.”  Not  less  in- 
volved is  his  reference  to  the  Persian 
Gulf  “ beginning  at  the  Sofala  (low- 
lands) of  the  Negroes  ” (Zanj). 


VII.] 


THE  GEOGEAPHY  OF  MASSOUDY. 


465 


The  length  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  he  tells  us  again,  is 
from  east  to  west  along  the  Equator,  beneath  the  line  of 
the  revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies ; and  the  influence 
of  these  upon  its  waters  is  felt  in  proportion  to  their 
nearness  to  the  Equator. 

According  to  some  of  the  sailors  of  Siraf,  ebb  and  flow 
took  place  only  twice  a year  over  most  of  the  Indian  Ocean, 
but  a few  years  before  (in  a.d.  925,  a.h.  303)  Massoudy 
himself  saw  a wonderful  flood-tide  coming  in  from  the  sea, 
like  a mountain,  in  the  Gulf  of  Guzerat  or  Cambay. 

“ The  ebb  is  so  marked  in  this  gulf  that  the  sand  lies  quite  bare  at 
times,  and  only  a little  water  trickles  in  the  midst  of  the  expanse.  I saw 
a dog  on  this  sand,  which  was  left  dry  by  the  water  like  the  sand  of  a 
desert : the  incoming  tide  caught  him  and  drowned  him,  though  he  ran 
as  fast  as  he  could.” 1 

6.  In  sharp  contrast  to  Massoudy’s  treatment  of  the 
Eastern  and  Southern  Ocean  is  his  language  as  regards  the 
Western,  the  Green  Sea  of  Darkness,  or  the  Atlantic.  Like 
most  of  his  race,  he  considered  it  “ impossible  to  navigate 
beyond  the  Strait  of  the  Idols  of  Copper  ” (of  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules,  or  of  Gibraltar).2  The  Idols  themselves  bear 
inscriptions  to  that  effect,  placed  there  by  “ King  Herakles 
the  giant.”  “ For  no  vessel  sails  on  that  sea  ; it  is  without 
cultivation  or  inhabitant,  and  its  end,  like  its  depth,  is 
unknown.”  It  is  true,  however,  that  some  adventurers  have 
tried  to  penetrate  its  mysteries ; and  such  an  one  was  Khosh- 
khash,  the  “ young  man  of  Cordova,”  who  once  collected  a 
crew  and  sailed  off  upon  the  ocean,  and  for  a great  space  of 
time  was  never  heard  of,  till  he  returned  with  a rich  cargo. 
The  story  of  his  exploits,  Massoudy  declares,  was  well  known 


1 Tbis,  of  course,  was  a bore,  or 
tidal  wave. 

2 In  c.  14,  however,  he  repeats  the 
statement  of  some  sailors,  that  in 


certain  directions  the  Sea  of  India 
was  endless.  On  the  young  man  of 
Cordova,  see  “Meadows  of  Gold,’* 
c.  12. 

2 H 


466 


ARAB  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Cii. 


in  Spain,  and  in  all  likelihood  the  later  “ Wanderers  ” of 
Lisbon,  who,  in  the  eleventh  (or  twelfth)  century,  reached 
Madeira,  according  to  the  narrative  of  Edrisi,  were  endeavour- 
ing to  imitate  his  example. 

7.  One  of  Massoudy ’s  weakest  points  is  naturally  the 
geography  of  Central  Europe,  which  he  had  never  examined 
for  himself.1  He  is  content  with  repeating  from  others  that 
the  Danube  rises  in  a great  lake,  and  flows  through  the  Sea 
of  Azov  into  the  Black  Sea ; even  on  the  much  more  acces- 
sible neighbourhood  of  Constantinople  his  information  is 
curiously  distorted.  A river  channel,  he  says,  branches  off 
from  the  Sea  of  Azov,  connecting  it  with  the  Mediterranean ; 
the  length  of  this  is  three  hundred  miles,  and  the  average 
breadth  is  fifty  miles.  On  its  western  bank  is  Constanti- 
nople, and  along  it  runs  an  unbroken  line  of  cultivation. 
There  is  little  more  precision  in  all  this  than  there  is  in 
another  tradition  he  gives  us,  from  Alkendy,  of  the  vast  lake 
in  the  North  of  the  habitable  world,  extending  almost  to  the 
pole.  ^ 

8.  On  China  and  the  Chinese  trade,  Massoudy  reproduces 
the  accounts  of  Soleyman,  of  Ibn  Yahab,  and  of  Abou  Zeyd 
Hassan  of  Siraf ; 2 but  he  adds  that  Kolah 3 had  now  become 
the  centre  of  commercial  exchange  on  this  side,  as  a con- 
venient half-way  house  at  a time  when  the  junks  of  the 
Yellow  Sea  no  longer  came  up  to  the  “ Stakes  ” off  Bassora, 
and  the  Arab  merchants  had  been  driven  out  of  Khanfu. 


1  In  the  Mediterranean,  Massoudy 

applies  the  title  of  Adriatic  to  the 
sea  west  of  Italy.  A little  later  (in 
c.  14)  he  mentions  the  tradition  of 
the  prophet  about  the  four  rivers  of 
Nile,  Euphrates,  Jai'hun,  and  Sai- 
hun,  springing  from  four  columns  of 
ruby,  sapphire,  emerald,  and  chryso- 

lite, planted  in  the  midst  of  the 


Atlantic.  As  to  this  and  similar 
stories,  as  of  tides  being  regulated  by 
the  toe  of  an  angel  in  the  Sea  of 
China,  or  of  the  personality  of  water- 
spouts as  liviug  dragons,  Massoudy 
declares  them  to  be  in  no  sense 
necessary  of  belief. 

2 Whom  he  knew  personally. 

3 ? Kolaba,  near  Bombay. 


VII.] 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  MASSOUDY. 


467 


Similarly  on  Bussia,  our  encyclopasdia  abridges  Ibn 
Khordadbeh  and  Ibn  Fozlan,  supplementing  those  writers 
by  some  points  of  more  recent  history,  but  omitting  nothing 
of  importance  that  had  been  noticed  by  earlier  travellers 
— such  as  the  use  of  the  Volga  Biver  for  trade  between 
Bulgarians,  Bussians,  and  Khazars  ; the  silver  mines  of  those 
parts ; the  different  hordes  and  tribes  which  made  up  the 
Bussian  people,  but  all  “ without  king  or  revelation  ; ” and 
the  extensive  commerce  of  the  central  mart  of  “ Bulghar  ” 
or  “ Volgaria,”  whose  merchants  journeyed  to  Spain,  France, 
Borne,  and  the  Byzantine  Empire.  Not  even  the  “ fiery 
craters  ” of  the  Naphtha  springs  at  Baku  are  omitted,  or 
those  “ islands  of  the  falcons  ” in  the  Caspian  which  Euro- 
peans mostly  learnt  of  from  Marco  Polo,  four  centuries  later.1 

Among  the  Khazars  of  the  Lower  Volga,  Massoudy  adds 
with  emphasis,  the  majority  are  Moslems,  and  the  army  of 
the  king  consists  of  Mussulmans  from  Kharizmia,  who  had 
emigrated  at  an  early  period,  after  the  spread  of  Islam,  from 
east  to  west  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  Before  entering  their  new 
country,  they  made  good  terms  for  themselves — the  right 
to  profess  Islam  publicly,  to  build  mosques,  and  to  call  to 
prayers,  the  privilege  of  being  judged  in  all  religious  and 
civil  matters  by  their  own  kadis,  and  the  permission  to 
remain  neutral  in  any  war  between  the  Khazars  and  a 
Moslem  arm^. 

“ And  besides  the  soldiers,”  there  were  many  other 
Mussulmans  in  this  kingdom  in  Massoudy ’s  day, — artisans, 
tradespeople,  and  merchants,  who  had  a “great  public 
mosque  ” to  themselves,  with  a minaret  which  towered 
above  the  royal  palaces,  and  several  private  mosques,  where 


1 Massoudy’s  allusions  to  Turkish 
history  (invasions  of  Europe,  etc.) 
are  not  so  satisfactory  as  his  geo- 
graphy of  these  parts.  On  a sixth 


century  Christianity  among  Turks, 
see  Theophyl.  Simoc.  v.  10;  Theo- 
phanes,  Chronog.  A.M.  6081. 


468 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


their  children  could  be  instructed.  This  was  the  result  of 
wholesale  emigration.  For  on  the  decline  of  the  Caliphate, 
justice  and  security  were  easier  found  in  the  border  king- 
doms of  non- Arab  races  and  of  newly  converted  Moslems 
than  in  the  Central  Kingdom,  where  the  highways  were 
now  “ unsafe  and  badly  kept,” 1 where  every  local  chief  was 
making  himself  independent  as  a satrap  of  old,  and  where 
the  “ pillars  ” of  Islam  seemed  to  be  giving  way,  and  the 
foundations  sinking  beneath  the  feet  of  the  believers. 


II.  Chinese  Geography. 

In  this  supplementary  sketch  of  the  non-Christian 
geography  of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages,  there  remains  one 
important  field,  and  one  only,  for  our  notice.  The  practical 
enterprise  and  scientific  research  of  Christendom,  of  the  Cali- 
phate, and  of  China,  together  comprise  everything  of  value 
in  this  period  for  the  story  of  geographical  advance.  Accord- 
ing to  the  plan  we  have  set  before  ourselves,  the  two  former 
of  these  three  divisions  have  been  already  treated,  the  one  in 
detail  (at  least  in  comparative  detail),  the  other  in  outline ; 
something,  however  slight,  must  be  said  about  the  last,  the 
Chinese,  or  Far-Eastern,  branch  of  the  subject.  In  attempt- 
ing this,  we  shall  be  content  perforce  with  an  even  less  full 
selection  of  typical  material  than  in  the  case  of  Arab  or 
Moslem  geography ; for,  as  our  aim  is  properly  to  describe 
in  the  first  place  the  progress  of  Christendom  along  one 
particular  line,  and  only  in  the  second  place  to  touch  upon 
the  parallel  progress  of  non-Christian  races  (with  especial 
reference  to  the  bearing  of  this  upon  Christian  Europe),  we 
shall  find  but  little  to  study  in  the  Chinese  records  of  this 
time.  Only  at  long  intervals  does  the  furthest  stretch 
of  Celestial  exploration  even  come  within  sight  of  the 
1 Massoudy,  c.  17. 


VII.] 


BUDDHIST  AND  CHRISTIAN  PILGRIMAGE. 


469 


Mediterranean  world ; yet  it  is  during  this  very  period,  before 
the  Crusades  led  to  the  great  expansion  of  Mediaeval  Europe, 
that  China  least  resembled  its  modern  self,  and  showed  itself 
least  inclined  to  live  its  life  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 
During  these  centuries,  between  the  age  of  Constantine  and 
that  of  our  English  Alfred  (a.d.  300-900),  several  embassies 
are  exchanged  between  the  Caesars  and  the  “Middle  King- 
dom;” and  several  Buddhist  Monks  travel  from  the  “Flowery 
Land  ” to  Central  Asia,  to  India,  and  possibly  to  America, 
in  striking  likeness  to  the  contemporary  journeys  of  Christian 
missionaries  and  pilgrims.  For  in  both  Faiths  there  was 
much  the  same  emphasis  upon  the  duties  of  Worshipping 
in  the  scenes  of  the  Founder’s  life  and  death ; and  of  going 
out  into  the  world  and  preaching  His  Gospel  to  every 
creature.  In  the  same  period  Christianity  itself,  in  a 
Nestorian  form,  passes,  as  we  have  already  seen,  from  the 
Levant  to  the  Yellow  Sea,  while  Chinese  junks  ply  regularly, 
during  a great  part  of  this  time,  between  the  dominions  of 
the  Son  of  heaven  and  those  of  the  Persian  sovereign 
whether  Chosroes  or  Caliph.  Never,  therefore,  shall  we 
discover  a greater  activity,  a wider  foreign  intercourse,  or 
a more  universal  ambition  among  the  Celestials ; never  did 
their  kings  strike  more  boldly  for  the  conquest  of  Asia ; 
never  did  their  travellers  go  further  afield  for  the  objects 
of  religion,  learning,  or  commerce. 

Yet  in  spite  of  these  interludes  of  comparative  accessi- 
bility to,  and  intercourse  with,  the  outside  world,  China  has 
always  remained  the  land  of  a peculiar  people,  and  this 
distinctive  character  is  very  prominent  in  their  geographical 
writings  and  allusions.  Take,  for  example,  the  record  of  the 
greatest  of  their  pilgrim  travellers.  Hiouen-Thsang  per- 
formed journeys  of  extraordinary  reach,  difficulty,  and 
importance,  yet  in  his  lengthy  memoirs  there  is  surprisingly 


470 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


little  geography.  The  bulk  of  his  work  is  taken  up  with 
religious  meditations,  and  with  disquisitions  upon  points  of 
philosophy,  morality,  and  even  grammar.  He  has  many 
descriptive  passages,  it  is  true,  but  they  usually  relate  to 
religious  processions  and  other  spectacles,  to  the  scenes  of 
the  miracles  of  Buddha,  to  the  relics  of  the  same,  and  to 
the  shrines  and  other  sacred  buildings  of  India.  He  gives 
us  the  impression  of  a man  chiefly  devoted  to  abstruse 
speculation  and  reflection;  his  interest  in  the  present-day 
world — the  world  of  the  effective  traveller  or  explorer — is  but 
slight.  He  cares  little  about  facts,  as  weighed  against  ideas. 

And  the  same  may  be  said  in  general  of  the  other 
narratives  of  Chinese  travel.  Their  geography,  like  all 
their  observations  on  material  fact,  is  incidental,  is  generally 
overlaid  by  a great  amount  of  what  we  may  call  talk  about 
abstractions,  especially  of  ethics  and  metaphysics,  and  is 
also  hampered  by  the  form  of  their  language,  and  their 
half-contemptuous  indifference  to  the  customs  and  nomencla- 
ture of  most  other  countries.1  Thus  their  equivalents  for 
Western  place-names  are  often  exceedingly  difficult  to 
explain : in  the  case  of  the  Roman  Empire  itself,  they  never 
attempt  a more  accurate  designation  than  the  nicknames 
of  Tathsin,  Antu,  or  Fulin; 2 3 the  Parthians  are  always  “Ansi,” 
the  Arabs  “ Tashi,”  in  their  annals.  And  if  this  is  the  measure 
they  deal  out  to  the  leading  nations  of  the  earth,  is  it  likely 
that  they  will  take  more  trouble  to  learn  the  proper  names 
of  little  states  and  towns  in  Central  Asia?  The  whole  of 
their  records  of  foreign  lands  is  mystified,  as  it  were,  by  this 

1 India,  as  the  sacred  Buddhist  (1)  Great  China,  a nickname  usually, 
land,  is  usually  an  exception.  But  hut  not  exclusively,  applied  to  the 
see  Sung-Yun’s  sarcastic  language  Roman  Orient;  (2)  Antioch,  Antony, 

about  some  of  the  Punjaub  kings,  as  ' or  Antonine  ; (3)  The  City  ( = 
quoted  below.  Polin,  or  Constantinople  ?). 

3 Respectively  seeming  to  mean ; 


VII.]  EARLY  INTERCOURSE  OF  CHINA  WITH  ROME.  471 


perverse  system,  which  only  on  rare  occasions  condescends 
to  give  ns  a native  name  in  native  dress,  and  so  leaves  many, 
if  not  most,  of  the  identifications  which  have  been  attempted 
scarcely  more  than  probable  at  the  best. 

It  was  under  the  Han  Dynasty,  and  in  the  years  im- 
mediately before  and  after  the  birth  of  Christ,  that  the  two 
great  Empires  of  the  extreme  East  and  West  first  came  in 
sight  of  one  another.  It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  the  land  of 
Likan,  or  Likian,  referred  to  in  Chinese  annals  of  the  second 
century  B.C.,  may  be  a corruption  of  the  name  of  the 
Seleucidse,1  who  at  one  time  inherited  all  the  central  part 
of  Alexander’s  Empire  from  Syria  to  the  Oxus,  but  the 
earliest  definite  intercourse  with  Rome,  as  such,  appears  to 
be  about  the  time  of  the  Christian  era,  when,  as  Elorus  2 tells 
us,  envoys  came  from  the  silk  country,  a journey  of  four 
years,  to  seek  the  friendship  of  Augustus.  The  dominion 
of  the  Csesars  as  a whole  was  known  to  the  Celestials  as 
Great  China,3  till  some  time  after  the  seat  of  power  had 
been  removed  to  Constantinople;  but  the  name  of  Rome 
does  not  occur  in  their  annals.  With  obstinate  perversity 
they  clung  to  a mistake  of  their  earliest  Western  travellers, 
or  envoys,  who  identified  the  capital  of  the  West  (“Antu”) 
either  with  Antioch  or  with  Antony,  at  a time  when  the 
triumvir  was  living  in  Egypt,  governing  the  Levant,  and 
intriguing  in  Persia,  India,  and  Bactria.4 


1 See  Pauthier,  “De  l’Authenti- 
cite  de  l’lnscription  de  SiDganfu,”  pp. 
34-55,  etc. 

2 iv.  12. 

3 Tathsin. 

4 See  Reinaud,  “ Relations  de 
l’Empire  Roiuain  avec  l’Asie  Ori- 
entate,” pp.  39-55,  etc.  Coins  of 
Julius  Caesar  and  of  Mark  Antony 
have  been  found  in  Northern  India, 


near  Lahore,  in  a Buddhist  tope, 
supposed  to  have  been  built  by 
Ivanichka,  King  of  Bactria,  who  then 
or  a little  later  (a.d.  10-40,  according 
to  Lassen)  ruled  the  Punjaub.  Virgil, 
Propertius,  and  Plutarch  (“  Life  of 
Antony  ”)  have  all  alluded  to  the 
alliances  of  Antony  in  the  Far  East ; 
and  Propertius  (bk.  iv.,  Eleg.  3)  has 
even  led  M.  Reinaud  to  believe  that 


472 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


The  embassy  of  the  Chinese  to  Augustus  is  more 
clearly  mentioned  on  the  Latin  side;  but  it  is  only  in 
the  records  of  the  Han  and  the  Tsin  that  we  hear  of  the 
Roman  missions  of  the  second  and  third  centuries  to  the 
Far  East,  from  emperors  whom  we  may  identify  with 
Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus  (the  Antun  of  the  Chinese), 
with  Alexander  Severus,  and  with  Carus,  all  famous  for  their 
Persian  victories  or  conquests,  and  all,  therefore,  possessing 
special  advantages  for  closer  intercourse  with  China.  The 
Antonine  embassy  of  166  seems  to  have  reached  China  by 
sea;  those  which  arrived  in  the  early  part  of  the  third 
century  and  in  the  year  ;284  probably 1 took  the  overland 
route,  by  the  “Stone  Tower,”  or  Tashkend,2  like  the 
merchants 3 whom  Ptolemy  mentions.  In  the  earlier 
centuries  of  the  Christian  Empire,  we  lose  sight  for  a long 
time  of  any  intercourse,  even  the  faintest,  between  China 
and  the  Mediterranean  world ; but  in  the  time  of  Justinian, 


a Roman  envoy,  poetically  named 
Lycotas,  not  only  visited  Balkh,  the 
capital  of  the  Bactrian  kings,  but 
helped  Kanichka,  or  his  predecessor, 
in  some  campaigns  against  the 
Chinese  at  this  very  time.  See 
Lassen,  Ind.  Alt.,  ii.  766,  768,  806, 
etc.  The  uncommon  knowledge 
shown  by  Pausanias  on  the  true 
nature  of  silk,  Reinaud  ingeniously 
suggests,  may  have  been  derived 
from  the  Antonine  embassy  of 
A.D.  166. 

1 Lacouperie  thinks  they  too 
came  by  sea.  “ Western  Origin  of 
Chinese  Civilisation.” 

2 The  name  Tashkend  is  simply 
translated  by  Ptolemy’s  AiQivos- 
III jpyos,  or  Turris  Lapidea. 

3 Ptolemy  even  gives  us  the  name 
of  a trader,  Maes  Titianus,  whose 
agents  had  made  this  journey  across 


Asia  several  times  about  a.d.  100. 
On  their  side,  the  Chinese  record 
jugglers  from  “ Great  China,”  arriv- 
ing in  their  country  by  way  of  the 
Shan  States  in  Ptolemy’s  lifetime 
(about  a.d.  120).  This,  however, 
may  not  refer  to  Rome,  but  to 
another  country  with  a similar 
Chinese  nickname.  It  is  also  open 
to  question  whether  the  Celestial 
mission  to  Augustus,  recorded  by 
Florus,  (which  has  been  fixed  to 
20  b.c.  for  its  arrival  on  the  Medi- 
terranean), or  the  return  missions 
from  Rome  to  China  of  a.d.  166, 
236  (?),  284,  etc.,  had  anything  of  an 
official  character.  The  “envoys” 
may  have  been  merely  traders.  See 
Terrien  de  Lacouperie,  “Western 
Origin  of  Chinese  Civilisation ; ” 
Reinaud’s  “Relations  de  l’Empire 
. . . avec  l’Asie  Orient.,”  pp.217-304. 


VII.]  CHINESE  INTERCOURSE  WITH  ROME  AND  LEVANT.  473 

Cosmas,  as  we  have  seen,  gives  us  a vague  description  of  a 
Far  Eastern  land,  which  might  he  either  Assam  or  China 
itself. 

A little  later,  in  the  early  years  of  the  seventh  century,1 
Theophylact  seems  to  have  heard  something  of  the  Celestials, 
their  wars,  and  the  “ heavenly  ” title  of  their  sovereign. 

On  their  side,  the  Chinese,  about  this  time  (a.d.  620- 
650),  refer  in  a pointed  manner  to  the  changes  in  the 
Mediterranean  world,  when  they  say  that  the  land  formerly 
called  Great  China,  was  now  termed  “Fulin”  (Polin),  or, 
in  other  words,  the  empire  of  the  Greek-speaking  city  of 
Byzantium.  This  critical  period,  answering  to  the  lifetime 
of  the  Emperor  Heraclius,  was  one  of  great  activity  in 
China;  when  the  great  conqueror  Yangti  tried  in  vain  to 
re-open  intercourse  with  Rome ; when  he  and  his  successors 
of  the  “ Thang  ” overran  Tonquin,  Siam,  and  much  of 
Central  Asia ; when  Hiouen-Thsang  travelled  to  India, 
Tartary,  and  Afghanistan;  and  when  envoys  arrived  at 
Singanfu  from  many  a kingdom  trembling  before  the 
Saracen  advance,  from  Nepaul  and  Magadha  (or  Behar),  in 
India;  from  the  last  king  of  the  “fire  worshippers”  in 
Persia,  and  from  the  Christian  sovereign  of  Constantinople. 

The  Chinese  annals  describe  the  capital  of  Fulin  (Con- 
stantinople) very  vividly,  as  if  from  the  account  of  an  eye- 
witness. The  compass  of  the  walls,  as  given  by  them — at 
twenty  miles — is  nearly  the  same  as  in  the  estimate  of 
Benjamin  of  Tudela  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  an  excellent 
picture  is  drawn  of  the  new  Queen  of  the  West.  It  stood 
upon  the  shore  of  the  sea.  The  houses,  built  of  stone,  rose 
to  a great  height.  The  people  of  the  city  numbered  a 
hundred  thousand  fires,  or  families.  Outside  the  walls  were 
immense  suburbs,  forming  a second  town,  well-nigh  as 
1 Theoph.  Simocatta,  ch.  vii.  7,  9 on  the  Taugas. 


474 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Oh. 


unbroken  as  the  first.  The  mansions  of  the  city  were 
adorned  with  colonnades  and  enclosed  in  parks.  The 
sovereign  had  twelve  principal  ministers.  The  eastern  gate 
of  Fuliii  was  two  hundred  feet  high,  and  covered  with 
gold-leaf ; 1 another  of  the  city  ports  had  over  it  a golden 
steel-yard,  and  a marvellous  clock,  with  a golden  image 
which  marked  the  hours  by  the  dropping  of  a golden  ball. 
Over  the  flat  roofs  of  the  houses  cooling  streams  of  water 
were  poured  in  the  heat  of  summer  from  conduit  pipes. 
And  if  the  subjects  were  so  luxurious,  the  magnificence  of 
the  prince  must  needs  be  answerable  thereto.  His  jewelled 
cap,  his  flower-embroidered  robe  of  silk,  the  regal  wings  of 
his  head-dress,  all  these  the  Chinese  record  in  the  annals 
of  the  “Middle  Kingdom.” 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  story  of  the  siege  of  Constan- 
tinople by  the  Caliph  Moawiyah  (a.d.  671-678),  of  his 
failure,  and  of  his  presents  of  gold  and  silk  to  purchase 
peace,  is  to  be  found,  mutilated  indeed,  but  still  recognis- 
able, in  the  same  annals. 

A generation  earlier  (in  a.d.  643),  during  the  reign  of 
Taitsung,  the  Trajan  of  Chinese  history,  the  long-inter- 
rupted intercourse  of  diplomacy  seems  to  have  been  renewed,, 
and  an  embassy  arrived  from  Fulfil  with  gifts  of  emeralds 
and  rubies,  which  we  may  suppose  were  sent  by  Heraclius 
to  win  the  help  of  China  against  the  Arabs. 

Similar  missions  from  Constantinople,  in  711  and  719, 
sent  by  Justinian  II.  and  Leo  the  Isaurian,2  with  presents 


1 Exactly  as  Massoudy  describes 
the  Golden  Gate,  with  its  “ doors  of 
bronze,”  on  the  west  side  of  the  city 
(“Meadows  of  Gold,”  ii.  319).  It 
was  really  at  the  south  end  of  the 
western  wall.  Cf.  also  the  “ Saga  of 

King  Sigurd,”  in  Snorro  Sturleson’s 


“ Sagas  of  the  Norse  Kings.” 

2 The  head  of  this  embassy  (of 
719)  is  called  Yenthuholo  by  the 
Chinese,  and  the  name  has  been 
supposed  to  be  their  rendering  of 
Leonto-Isauro  (A eovros  ’laaipov). 


VII.]  CHINESE  INTERCOURSE  WITH  ROMAN  ORIENT.  475 


of  lions  and  great  sheep  with  spiral  horns,  may  have  had 
a like  object.  The  time  when  Leo’s  envoy  must  have  been 
despatched  from  the  Bosphorus  coincides  exactly  with  that 
terrible  moment  when  the  Mussulmans  put  forth  all  their 
strength  for  the  capture  of  Byzantium,  and  when,  on  the 
other  side  of  Europe,  they  had  overrun  Spain,  and  were 
entering  France  by  the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees. 

Lastly,  in  742,  the  arrival  from  Fulin  of  certain  priests 
of  great  virtue,  who  may  or  may  not  have  been  the  same 
as  the  band  of  Hestorian  missionaries  under  Kiho,  who, 
according  to  the  inscription  of  Singanfu,  arrived  in  744 
from  the  Roman  Empire,  is  duly  chronicled.  Here  ends 
the  list  of  the  more  important  notices  for  our  period  of 
Chinese  intercourse  with  the  Western  world  of  pagan  and 
Christian  Rome,1  and  till  near  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century  the  Caliphate  seems  to  have  barred  the  way  against 
any  recurrence  of  the  same. 

The  narratives  of  the  Buddhist  pilgrims  which  we  shall 
have  to  notice  are  mainly  concerned  with  India ; but  the 
Chinese  annals  are  strangely  imperfect  and  fragmentary  in 
their  notices  of  the  sacred  country.  Their  first  mention  of 
it  does  not  go  back  before  b.c.  122 ; and  within  the  scope 
of  our  period,2  most  of  the  references  are  to  Cinghalese 
embassies,  reaching  back  to  the  early  years  of  the  fifth 
century  (a.d.  405).  During  the  next  age  (for  instance,  in 
515)  the  kings  of  Ceylon  declared  themselves  vassals  of 
China.  Following  the  journey  of  Hiouen-Thsang  and  the 
conquests  of  Yang-Ti3  (605-617),  several  of  the  kings  of 
Central  India,  and  especially  of  Behar,  opened  relations  with 


1 See  Pauthier,  “De  1’ Authenticity 
de  l’lnscription  de  Singanfu ; ” De 

G-uignes,  in  Mem.  de  l’Acad.,  xxxii., 

xlvi. 


2 a.d.  300-900. 

3 In  the  valleys  of  the  Red  River 
and  the  Mekong. 


476 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


China,  from  about  a.d.  640;  in  the  eighth  century  the 
rulers  of  Kashmir  paid  tribute,  as  a protection  both  against 
the  Arabs  on  the  West  and  the  Thibetan  marauders  on  the 
East ; and  repeated  missions  arrived  from  various  states  of 
Hindostan,  most  of  them  probably  eager  for  any  assistance 
they  could  procure  against  the  all-conquering  Moslems. 
On  one  occasion  (about  a.d.  730)  a Hindu  prince  begged  the 
Emperor  of  China  for  an  especial  favour — he  did  not  want 
merely  men  and  money;  he  craved,  above  all,  a title  of 
honour  for  his  troops.  This  difficult  problem  produced 
great  agitation  in  the  court  of  the  Son  of  Heaven,  but  at 
last  all  claims  were  satisfied.  The  emperor  conferred  on  the 
army  of  his  ally  a glorious  diploma.  Henceforth  it  was  “ the 
army  which  cherishes  virtue,”  or  “ which  makes  the  pursuit 
of  virtue  its  chief  care.” 

In  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  China  lost  control 
of  many  of  its  vassals  in  Central  Asia,  and  the  last  mention 
we  have  of  intercourse  with  India  in  the  limits  of  this  period 
is  no  later  than  the  Singanfu  Inscription,  or,  in  other  words, 
the  attempt  of  the  Emperor  Tetsung,  in  787,  to  form  a 
league  against  the  marauders  of  Thibet. 


The  dealings  of  China  with  Persia  in  the  days  before 
Islam  appeared,  and  with  the  Caliphate  after  that  great 
upheaval,1  were  of  course  considerable ; and  Arab  writers  and 


1 See  Bretsclmeider’s  “ Chinese 
Knowledge  of  the  Arabs,”  etc.,  1871 ; 
Yule’s  “Cathay”  (preliminary  es- 
say, §§  iv.,  y.) ; Reinaud’s  “ Relations 
de  l’Empire  Romain  avec  l’Asie 
Orientale,”  his  “ Memoire  sur  l’lnde,” 
and  his  editions  of  Aboulfeda  (in- 
trod.),  and  of  the  “ Relations  ” of  the 
Two  Mussulman  travellers  ( discours 
prelim.')',  Gaubil,  “Histoire  de  la 


dynastie  Thang ; ” Abel  Remusat,  in 
Mem.  de  l’Acad.  des  Inscr.,  VIII.  (new 
series);  and  De  Lacouperie,  “Wes- 
tern Origin  of  Chinese  Civilization,” 
1894 ; also  Pauthier,  “ De  1’ Authen- 
ticity de  l’lnscription  Nestorienne  de 
Singanfu  ; ” Klaproth,  “ Memoires 
relatifs  k l’Asie  ” (1824-28),  and 
“ Tableaux  Historiques  de  l’Asie  ” 
(1826). 


VII.]  CHINA  AND  THE  EARLY  CALIPHATE.  477 

statesmen  certainly  possessed  a clearer  and  fuller  knowledge 
of  the  Silk  Land  than  any  other  of  our  informants. 

But  here  we  must  content  ourselves  with  a reference  to 
the  accounts  of  Mohammedan  travellers,  whom  we  have 
already  followed  to  Khanfu,1  and  other  parts  of  the  Yellow 
Sea,  adding  in  this  place  only  a notice  of  one  or  two  entries- 
in  the  annals  of  China. 

In  the  reign  of  Chosroes  Hushirvan,  embassies  were 
exchanged  between  that  great  prince  and  the  Emperor 
Wuti,2  probably  for  the  purpose  of  a league  against  the 
Turks ; but  the  last  successor  of  Chosroes  appealed  in  vain 
to  the  ruler  of  China,  in  638,  for  aid  against  the  Arabs. 
The  wretched  exile,  flying  before  the  horsemen  of  the 
Saracen  Caliph  like  another  Darius  before  a Semitic  Alex- 
ander, and  doomed  to  a similar  fate  in  the  same  region  of 
the  world,  had  appealed  as  a last  hope  to  the  great  Emperor 
Taitsung,  who  claimed  to  rule  over  several  vassals  to  the 
west  of  Tengri  Khan.  But  beyond  the  Oxus,  he  received 
only  the  chilling  answer  that  the  Son  of  Heaven  regarded 
his  friendship  as  most  sacred;  but  with  people  of  such 
superior  virtue  as  the  Arabs,  it  was  clear  that  resistance 
would  be  impious,  and  he  could  only  recommend  his  ally  to 
make  the  best  terms  in  his  power.3 

As  a matter  of  fact,  the  Chinese  were  greatly  terrified  by 
the  progress  of  Islam,  which  soon  stripped  them  of  their 
vague  suzerainty  in  Western  Turkestan ; in  a.d.  679  and 
709,  as  again  in  751,  their  attempted  action  against  the 
Caliphate  proved  miserably  abortive,  and  in  the  early  years 
of  the  eighth  century4  the  Arab  General  Kutaiba  forced 
something  very  like  tribute  from  the  Celestials  by  his  advance 


1 Or  Hangclieufu,  the  Quinsay  of 
Marco  Polo. 

2 About  a.d.  560-67. 


3 It  is  only  fair  to  say  this  comes 
from  the  Arabs. 

4 a.d.  710-13. 


478 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


upon  Kashgar.  But  for  the  death  of  the  Caliph  Walid,  it 
was  said,  the  Moslems  would  have  marched  right  on  to  the 
Eastern  Sea. 

Of  especial  interest  to  us  is  the  description  in  the  Chinese 
annals  of  the  sea-voyage  from  Canton  and  their  other  har- 
bours to  the  Persian  Gulf.  After  the  domestic  troubles  of 
878  and  subsequent  years,  their  junks  seem,  as  a rule,  to 
have  been  afraid  to  go  beyond  Ceylon ; but  from  the  fifth  to 
the  ninth  centuries,  for  five  hundred  years,  the  ships  of 
China,  as  Massoudy  tells  us,  might  often  be  seen  lying 
moored  in  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates,  or  at  various  points 
on  the  shore  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  In  Massoudy’s 1 lifetime, 
China  had  already  begun  to  abandon  anything  of  a progres- 
sive or  commercial  policy.  How  different  a spirit  moved 
among  her  people  in  earlier  times  we  have  tried  to  show ; 
but  our  best  evidence  has  yet  to  come  in  the  travels  of  the 
Buddhist  monks  and  saints,  with  which  we  shall  conclude 
this  bird’s-eye  view  of  Eastern  geography. 

The  earliest2  of  the  great  Chinese  travellers  that  come 
within  our  period  is  Fa-Hien,  who  started  from  the  valley  of 
the  Ho-ang-ho  in  the  last  year  of  the  fourth  century  (a.d.  400) 
in  search  of  the  Buddhist  books  of  discipline,  and  returned 
to  Hanking  on  the  Yangtse  Kiang  in  414,  after  fifteen 


1 “ Meadows  of  Gold,”  i.  216,  etc. 
(in  Meynard’s  edition). 

2 Before  his  day  three  pilgrims,  at 
least,  had  gone  to  the  “ West  ” (India, 
Khotan,  etc.),  in  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries  a.d.,  especially  one  Fading 
in  about  320,  but  their  journals  have 
not  survived.  See  Stanislas  Julien’s 
“ Vie  et  Voyages  de  Hiouen-Thsang,” 
and  “Voyages  des  Pelerins  Boud- 
dhistes  ”(1853),  etc. ; Beal’s  “ Buddhist 
Records  of  the  Western  World,”  in 
Triibner’s  Oriental  Series  (1884),  a 


translation  of  the  Records  of  Fa-Hien, 
Hoei-Sing,  etc.,  and  Hiouen-Thsang, 
in  2 vols. ; also  his  version  of  H.  T.’s 
life,  in  1 vol.,  of  the  same  series 
(1888);  and  Legge’s  “Fa-Hien” 
(1886);  Bretschneider’s  “Notes  on 
Chinese  Travellers  to  the  West  ” 
deals  only  with  thirteenth-century 
narratives.  Klaproth  claimed  to 
have  discovered  Fa-Hien’s  work  in 
1816,  and  assisted  Remusat  in  the 
editio  princeps  of  1836  (Paris). 


YII.]  THE  PILGKIMAGE  OF  FA-HIEN,  399-414.  479 

years  of  wandering.  He  seems  first  to  have  gone  north  by 
west,  almost  to  Tengri  Khan,  and  the  range  of  the  Thian- 
Shan,  to  somewhere  near  the  site  of  the  present  Kharashar. 
Thence  he  made  his  way  southward  to  Khotan ; south-west 
to  Peshawur,  and  the  neighbourhood  of  Kabul;  south-east 
to  the  Jumna  at  Muttra,  and  the  Ganges  at  Kananj ; finally, 
down  the  Ganges  Valley  to  Patna,  Benares,  and  the  sea, 
where  he  took  ship  for  China,  by  the  straits  of  Sunda,  visit- 
ing the  sacred  isle  of  Ceylon  on  the  way,  or  rather  by  a long 
detour  from  the  way. 

His  tone  throughout  is  of  the  devout,  but  sensible,  and 
not  often  hysterical  pilgrim-traveller.  His  record  is  truthful, 
clear,  and  straightforward,  and  most  of  his  positions  can  be 
identified ; what  is  more  surprising  (in  a Chinese)  is  the 
humility  with  which  he  writes.  To  him,  as  a Buddhist  first, 
and  a Celestial  afterwards,  China  was  outside  the  inner  circle 
of  blessing,  in  which  only  Indians  could  sun  themselves; 
the  relation  between  the  two  was,  to  his  mind,  that  of  a 
province  to  the  capital ; and  over  and  over  again  he  records 
the  aspiration  of  himself  or  his  friends,  “ P rom  this  time 
forth,  let  me  never  be  born  in  a frontier  land ; may  I ever 
live  in  a central  kingdom,  not  in  a border  kingdom.” 

The  earlier  part  of  Fa-Hien’s  narrative  is  strictly  geo- 
graphical : then,  as  he  comes  to  India,  narratives  of  the  life 
and  wonders  of  Buddha  more  and  more  fill  his  pages,  and 
the  record  of  his  own  adventures  is  more  and  more  coloured 
by  the  supernatural. 

Starting  from  the  great  city  which  was  then  the  capital 
of  the  Empire,  Chang-an,  or  Singanfu,  near  the  north-west 
frontier  of  China,  and  passing  the  Great  Wall,  the  first 
obstacle  to  be  traversed  was  the  River  of  Sand,  or  Desert  of 
Gobi,  the  home  of.  “ evil  demons  and  hot  winds,”  where  the 
only  way -marks  were  the  dry  bones  of  the  dead,  and  where 


480 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch- 


no  bird  was  to  be  seen  in  the  air  above,  no  animal  on  the 
ground  below.  “ For  there,”  says  Marco  Polo  of  the  same 
region,  “ dwell  many  spirits  which  cause  marvellous  illusions 
to  travellers,  and  make  them  to  perish ; for  if  any  stay 
behind  and  cannot  see  his  company,  he  shall  be  called  by 
his  name,  and,  so  going  out  of  the  road,  is  lost.  By  night, 
too,  they  hear  the  noise  of  a company  which,  taking  to  be 
their  own,  they  likewise  perish.  And  oft  are  to  be  heard 
there  playing  upon  divers  instruments  of  music,  the  beating 
of  drums,  and  the  noise  of  armies  marching.”  Fa-Hien,  by 
painful  experience,  discovered  that  diabolical  agency  was 
not  confined  to  the  deserts  of  Turkestan.  There,  legend 
said,  a sand-storm  had  once  covered  as  many  cities  as  the- 
days  of  the  year  in  one  space  of  four  and  twenty  hours ; this 
was  bad  enough,  but  in  the  mighty  mountains  to  the  north 
of  India,1  where  our  pilgrim  endured  sufferings  “ unequalled 
in  man’s  experience,”  he  learnt  also  what  dangers  were  to  be' 
feared  from  the  hill-dragons,  who  could  “ spit  forth  poisonous 
winds,  and  cause  showers  of  snow,  and  storms  of  sand  and 
gravel.” 

Arriving  at  last  in  safety  at  Khotan,  where  in  later  times 
the  mass  of  the  people  have  embraced  Islam,  Fa-Hien  found 
enthusiastic  Buddhists,2  “ with  monks  in  myriads,”  and  was 
spectator  of  a festival  where  the  king  went  out  with  bare 
feet  to  meet  the  image  (of  Buddha)  : “ carrying  in  his  hands 
flowers  and  incense,  and  with  head  and  face  bowed  to  the 
ground,  he  did  homage,  scattering  the  flowers  and  burning 
the  incense.”  3 

Similarly,4  in  Yarkand,  in  the  Karakorum  Mountains, 
and  in  Afghanistan,5  where  Islam  now  almost  exclusively 


1 Chs.  ii.,  vi. 

2 Chs.  ii.,  iii. 

8 The  same  prince  had  built,  or 

rather  completed,  a monastery,  which 


had  been  in  progress  for  eighty  years. 

4 Chs.  iii.,  iv. 

5 Fa-Hien’s  Kipin  = Kabul ; his- 
Lo-i,  or  Ro-hi,  = Afghanistan. 


VII.] 


FA-HIEN  IN  INDIA. 


481 


prevails,  were  then  “earnest  followers  of  the  Law”  of 
Buddha. 

From  the  “ wall-like  hills  ” of  the  Hindu-Kush,1  Fa-Hien 
descended  suddenly  into  the  gorge  of  the  Indus,  a drop  of 
10,000  cubits,  as  he  regarded  it.  The  Chinese  monk  is  well 
abreast  of  modern  travellers  in  his  appreciation  of  this 
famous  defile.  “ When  one  approached  the  edge  of  it,  one’s 
nyes  trembled;  if  one  wished  to  go  forward,  there  was  no 
place  on  which  to  plant  the  foot,  save  that  in  old  times  men 
had  chiselled  paths  along  the  rocks,  and  hung  ladders  on 
the  face  of  the  same,  and  bridged  the  water  at  the  bottom  of 
the  gorge  with  ropes.  Seven  hundred  were  the  ladders  they 
had  put  up,  and  the  breadth  of  the  stream  was  eighty  paces.”  2 
Some  Chinese  travellers  of  earlier  time  had  described  this 
place ; but  not  even  the  most  famous  of  them,  Fa-Hien  notes 
with  quiet  exultation,  had  actually  reached  so  far. 

It  was  apparently  in  a.d.  402  that  our  pilgrim  entered 
India,  and  he  passed  the  next  ten  years  in  the  “ central  ” 
Buddhist  kingdom.  But  here,  as  we  have  pointed  out  before, 
meditations  upon  Buddhist  moralities  almost  entirely  replace 
descriptions  of  travel.  We  only  get  bare  notices  of  journeys 
to  Peshawur,  to  Afghanistan,  and  back  into  the  Punjaub,  and 
down  the  valleys  of  the  Ganges  and  Jumna.3  Thus  various 
places  are  visited  for  the  sake  of  the  shadow,  the  alms-bowl, 
or  the  skull  of  Buddha,  and  scarcely  anything  is  dwelt  upon 
in  connection  with  them,  except  the  relics  they  contain.  Yet 
here  and  there  we  find  passages  of  more  general  interest.  For 
an  example  of  this  we  may  turn  to  the  scene  on  the  “ little 
snowy  mountains  ” between  the  Punjaub  and  Afghanistan, 
where  one  of  Fa-Hien’s  company  sinks  down  beneath  the 


1 Ch.  vii. 

2 The  modern  Beal,  Watters,  and 
Cunningham  (see  the  latter’s  “La- 
dah,”  pp.  88,  89,  quoted  by  the  two 


former),  confirm  the  picturesque 
truth  of  this  description. 

3 Chs.  xii.,  xiv.,  xvi.,  etc. 

2 i 


482 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


cold.  “ A white  froth  came  from  his  mouth,  and  he  cried  out, 

‘ I cannot  live  any  longer ; leave  me,  and  save  yourselves. 
Let  us  not  all  die  here.’  ” But  Fa-Hien’s  courage  was  not  to 
be  shaken.  “ Our  purpose  was  not  to  win  good  fortune,”  he 
exclaimed,  as  he  embraced  his  dying  friend.  “ Submitting  to 
fate,”  he  pressed  on,  and  crossed  the  range ; beyond  this  he 
came  to  the  Afghan 1 country.  Thence  he  returned  to  the 
low  and  level  lands  of  the  Indus  Valley,  where  thousands  of 
monks  welcomed  the  visitor  from  the  Border  Land  of  China. 

Further  to  the  south  and  east,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jumna,  he  reckoned  three  thousand  of  these  religious  men  ; 
for  Buddhism  had  not  yet  been  driven  out  of  India ; and  all 
along  the  course  of  his  journey,  from  the  Sandy  Desert  to 
Muttra,  the  kings  and  rulers  of  the  various  countries  he  had 
visited  were  everywhere  of  his  faith. 

But  his  travels  had  now  brought  him  to  the  plains  where 
the  older  religion  of  Brahma  was  soon  to  break  out  in  fierce 
revolt  against  the  heresy  which  undermined  its  caste-system. 
The  difference  of  the  countries  impressed  itself  forcibly  upon 
Fa-Hien,  and  he  tells  us  that  from  the  Indus  to  the  Southern 
Sea  all  was  level ; there  were  no  more  great  mountains  with 
rushing  torrents,  only  the  lowland  with  its  deep,  calm,  slow- 
moving  rivers.  The  traveller  now  lingered  among  the  holy 
scenes  of  Buddha’s  life ; for  each  one  called  up  to  him  some 
fresh  tale  of  his  sacred  books,  some  fresh  reminder  of  the 
object  of  his  search.  Thus  at  the  J etvana  monastery  in  Oude, 
where  Buddha  had  once  lived  for  five  and  twenty  years, 
crowds  of  monks  came  out  and  asked  him  his  name  and 
country.  “From  the  land  of  Han”  (China),  he  replied. 
“ Strange,”  said  the  monks,  “ that  the  men  of  a border 
country  should  travel  so  far  in  search  of  our  law.  Hot  in 
all  the  time  that  we  have  lived  here,  not  in  all  the 


Lo-i,  or  Ro-hi. 


YII.] 


FA-HIEN  IN  INDIA. 


483 


generations  that  have^  followed  one  another  in  this  place 
has  it  ever  been  known  that  men  of  onr  Law  came  hither 
from  the  land  of  China.”  1 

The  birthplace  of  Buddha,  on  the  modern  Kohana,  some 
hundred  miles  north-west  of  Benares,  Fa-Hien  found  in 
ruins  as  it  had  lain  since  the  lifetime  of  the  sage,  and  the 
whole  country  round  about  was  a scene  of  desolation,  aban- 
doned to  elephants  and  lions,  who  attacked  travellers.2  On 
the  other  hand,  in  Patna,  one  of  the  earliest  centres  of 
Buddhism,3  were  monasteries  and  hospitals,  dispensaries  and 
schools  of  the  pilgrim’s  faith,  and  many  monuments  of  King 
Asoka’s  princely  devotion.  In  the  true  spirit  of  the 
pilgrim,  Fa-Hien  one  night  ascended  the  Vulture  Peak, 
near  Patna,  that  he  might  more  perfectly  imitate  his  master, 
who  had  spent  many  days  upon  that  very  summit.  At  the 
foot  of  the  hill  he  bought  incense-sticks,  flowers,  oil  and 
lamps,  and  hired  two  attendants  .to  carry  his  offerings  before 
him.  Arrived  at  the  sacred  spot,  he  burnt  his  incense,  and 
strewed  his  flowers ; then  as  the  night  came  on,  he  lighted 
the  lamps  and  chanted  certain  portions4  of  the  Law  of 
Buddha.  With  the  morning  light  he  returned  to  the  plain. 
A later  story  tried  to  enhance  this  simple  narrative  by  the 
legend  of  two  black  lions 5 which  appeared  to  “ try  ” him, 
“ licking  their  lips  and  waving  their  tails  ” as  if  ready  to 
attack ; but  the  picture  needed  no  aid  from  fable.  Fa-Hien, 
on  the  lonely  height,  so  many  hundred  miles  from  his  home, 
watching  through  the  night  with  the  intense  eagerness  of 
the  devotee,  if  only  he  could,  by  place  and  time  and  circum- 
stance, work  himself  back  into  the  life  and  spirit  of  his 


1 Ch.  xx. 

2 Ch.  xxii.  Perhaps  the  “ lions  ” 
were  really  leopards. 

3 After  it  had  won  the  State  to 

itself  with  Asoka’s  conversion. 


4 The  Surangama  Sutra. 

5 Leopards  probably.  See  what 
Sung-Yun  says  later  about  the 
Chinese  ignorance  of  lions. 


484 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


Teacher,  this  is  the  real  and  sufficient  interest  of  the 
scene.1 

In  Patna,  and  at  other  places 2 along  the  lower  Ganges 
Valley,  Fa  Hien  spent  the  next  five  years  copying  out  the 
“ Books  of  Discipline  ” he  had  come  so  far  to  see,  and 
finding  everywhere  multitudes  of  Buddhists. 

The  last  of  the  kingdoms  in  the  Central  Land  which 
our  pilgrim  thought  worthy  of  a visit  was  Ceylon,  reached 
by  him  in  fourteen  days  from  the  Ganges  Delta,  as  he 
“ went  floating  over  the  sea  to  the  south-west,  embarked  in 
a merchant  vessel.”  And  here  his  own  land  was  brought  to 
his  remembrance  by  a trivial  incident.  As  he  stood  one 
day  by  the  great  jade  image  of  Buddha  in  the  shrine  on  the 
“ Fearless  Hill,” 3 he  saw  a merchant  offering  a native 
Chinese  present,  a white  silk  fan,  and  a sudden  weariness  of 
his  long  exile  seized  upon  the  traveller. 

“ For  years  past  he  had  only  conversed  with  men  of 
strange  countries;  his  eyes  had  never  rested  on  a familiar 
object ; his  fellow  travellers  had  all  been  parted  from  him ; 
no  face  or  shadow  was  now  with  him  but  his  own.”  But 
before  he  would  think  of  return  he  transcribed  all  the 
sacred  texts,  as  yet  unknown  in  China,  which  he  could  find 
in  Ceylon,  witnessed  the  festival  of  the  exhibition  of 
Buddha’s  tooth ; and  remarked  the  trade  of  “ Sabean  ” or 
Arab  merchants  to  the  island,  two  hundred  years  before 
Mohammed.4  Not  unnaturally  Fa-Hien  preferred  the 
straighter  though  more  dreaded  sea  voyage  to  the  inter- 
minable length  and  already  experienced  perils  of  the  land 


1 Ch.  xxix. 

2 Notably  in  Tam-look,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Hoogly,  then  the  prin- 
cipal centre  for  trade  with  China 
and  Ceylon. 

3 Ch.  xxxviii.  This  is  famous  as 


being  marked  by  the  highest  tope  in 
Ceylon,  the  Abhayagiri,  said  to  be 
250  feet  high,  which  was  built  about 
90  b.c.,  and  is  still  standing. 

* Ch.  xxxviii.  May  we  suspect 
the  text  here  ? 


VII.] 


FA-HIEN  IN  CEYLON  AND  EAST  INDIES. 


485 


transit,  but  danger  still  pursued  him,  and  a storm  burst  upon 
the  ship  after  three  days’  sail.  The  vessel  sprang  a leak, 
and  Fa-Hien  came  near  to  seeing  the  loss  of  all  the  books 
and  images  he  had  collected.  Day  and  night  the  tempest 
continued,  till  on  the  thirteenth  morning  land  was  sighted, 
the  leak  discovered,  and  the  danger  averted.  The  chief  fear 
now  was  from  pirates.  Yet,  with  a return  of  dark  and 
rainy  weather,  the  ship  might  again  be  driven  out  of  its 
course ; as  the  mariners  had  no  compass  or  any  guide  but 
the  signs  of  heaven.  “ The  ocean  spread  out,  a boundless 
expanse.  In  the  darkness  of  the  night  only  the  great  waves 
were  to  be  seen,  breaking  one  upon  another  and  giving  forth 
a brightness  like  the  light  of  fire.”  Passing  by  Java,1 
where  “ various  forms  of  error  flourished,”  a second  storm 
brought  Fa-Hien  within  measurable  distance  of  the  fate 
of  Jonah.  The  crew’s  one  anxiety  was  to  get  rid  of  the 
holy  man  at  any  cost.  It  was  his  presence,  they  declared, 
that  brought  all  misfortune  upon  them.  But  he  was  saved 
by  the  interference  of  a “patron,”  and  fifteen  years  after 
his  departure  from  the  upper  valley  of  the  Ho-ang-ho  he 
landed  near  the  mouth  of  the  same  river  with  all  his  pain- 
fully won  spoils.  He  had  visited,  in  his  own  judgment, 
nearly  thirty  kingdoms,  from  the  desert  of  Gobi  to  the 
farthest  limits  of  India ; he  had  traversed  countries  of  which 
his  ancestors  had  no  complete  account;2  and  in  the  true 
spirit  of  discovery  he  had  gone  on  “ without  regarding  his 
own  poor  life,”  recording  diligently  all  that  he  had  met 
with,  that  others  “might  share  with  him  in  what  he  had 
heard  ” and  seen. 

Of  the  later  journeys  of  Chinese  travellers  before  the 

in  one  ship  at  that  time. 

2 Ch.  xl. 


1 Here  he  seems  to  have  changed 
vessels,  as  if  it  was  impossible  to 
sail  straight  from  Ceylon  to  China 


486 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


Revolution  of  878,  we  shall  select  three,  the  most  interest- 
ing, important,  and  typical  of  their  class.  First  comes 
the  expedition  of  518  to  India  and  other  lands  “ over 
against  the  sun-setting ; ” secondly,  we  have  the  disputed 
missionary  journeys  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  to 
Eastern  countries,  which  have  been  interpreted  by  some  as 
a Chinese  discovery  of  North  America ; lastly,  there  is  the 
voluminous  record  of  Hiouen-Thsang’s  famous  pilgrimage 
in  Turkestan  and  India  during  the  early  years  of  the  seventh 
century. 

Many  records  of  early  Chinese  travel  still  probably 
remain  unknown  to  Western  scholars ; others,  though 
known,  have  never  been  edited  or  translated ; 1 and  such  as 
have  been  offered  to  the  European  student  contain  scarcely 
anything  but  repetitions  of  the  words,  the  thoughts,  and  the 
experiences  of  the  travellers  we  have  instanced.  Thus  in 
the  “ Memoir  ” of  I-tsing  upon  the  “ eminent  men  of  religion 
who  went  to  seek  for  the  law  in  the  Western  regions,”  at 
various  times  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventh  century,  we 
have  notices  of  no  fewer  than  fifty-six  travellers,  mostly 
native  Chinese,  who  followed  in  the  steps  of  Fa-Hien  and 
Hiouen  Thsang  between  a.d.  650  and  700,  but  none  of 
these  add  anything  equal  in  value  to  their  great  predecessors. 
This  is  true  even  of  I-tsing  himself,  who  is  the  leading  figure 
in  this  later  series  of  pilgrims ; who  sailed  from  Canton  in  a 
Persian  vessel  for  India  at  the  age  of  thirty -six  (a.d.  671) ; 
who  visited  Java,  Sumatra,  and  the  Nicobars  on  his  way 
to  and  from  the  sacred  land ; and  who  did  not  finally  return 
to  China  till  his  sixty-second  year  (a.d.  695).  It  is  not  a 
little  remarkable,  however,  that  none  of  these  travellers  are 

1 Cf.  the  list  given  by  Stanislas  Beal’s  opinion,  “ Buddhist  Records,” 
Julien  in  his  introd.  to  the  “Vie  et  i.  21. 

Voyages  d’Hiouen  - Thsang,”  and 


VII.] 


I-T SING’S  MEMOIRS  OF  TRAVEL. 


487 


mentioned  anywhere  else ; apart  from  I-tsing’s  record,  we 
should  know  nothing  of  their  movements ; and  yet  in  one 
short  space  of  forty  or  fifty  years,  a Chinese  Plutarch  is  able 
to  collect  three-score  such  notices  of  religious  travel.  It  is 
probable  that  the  triumphant  return  of  Hiouen-Thsang  in 
645  was  in  part  the  cause  of  this  amazing  activity  in  the 
next  two  generations ; but  may  we  not  suppose  that  dozens, 
perhaps  hundreds,  of  similar  journeys  have  passed  unrecorded 
in  those  ages  of  China’s  missionary  and  political  expansion 
which  here,  come  within  our  view  ? 1 Among  the  fifty-six 
worthies  whom  I-tsing  commemorates,  about  half  seem  to 
have  taken  the  southern  or  ocean  route,  from  the  China  Sea 
to  the  Bay  of  Bengal ; the  rest  followed  one  of  the  overland 
tracks  to  the  north  or  south  of  the  Kuen-lun ; and  a surprising 
number  of  the  latter  made  their  way  through  the  highlands 
of  Thibet  and  Nepaul,  usually  described  as  so  dangerous  for 
passengers.2  I-tsing’s  biographies,  viewed  as  a whole,  are 
almost  startling  in  their  interest ; the  evidence  they  present 
of  a philosophic  nation  on  the  move  is  so  surprising : but, 
taken  singly,  these  records  are,  as  we  have  said,  not  dis- 
tinctive or  representative  enough  for  further  notice  in  this 
place ; and  in  the  same  way,  though  chiefly  for  another 
reason,  we  must  stop  short  of  any  discussion  of  the  Chinese 
cartography  of  this  time.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  a.d.  721 
the  Priest  Y-hang  was  commissioned  to  make  a survey  of 
the  Empire  by  “triangulation,”  and  that  observers  were 


1 a.d.  300-900. 

2 See,  for  I-tsing’s  records,  the 
French  translation  and  commentary 
of  Ed.  Chavannes’  “Memoire  compose 
a l’Epoque  ,de  la  Grande  Dynastie 
T’ang,  sur  les  Religieux  Eminents 
qui  allerent . . . dans  les  Pays  d’ Occi- 
dent ” (Paris,  1894) ; also  S.  Beal’s 
translation  of  the  “ Life  of  Hionen 


Thsang  ” (1888),  the  preface  of  which 
contains  a good  summary  (pp.  xvii.- 
xxxvii.)  of  I-tsing’s  biographies. 
Among  the  travellers  mentioned, 
twenty-one  are  expressly  recorded  to 
have  gone  by  sea  to  India,  twenty  by 
land,  some  nine  of  these  passing 
through  Thibet,  e.g.  the  first-recorded 
Hiouen-Chiou,  c.  a.d.  650. 


488 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


also  sent  at  the  same  period  into  Cochin-China,  Tonquin, 
the  south  of  India,  and  the  north  of  Tartary,  to  observe  the 
respective  length  of  days  and  nights,  and  the  motions  of 
those  stars  which  were  not  visible  on  the  horizon  of  Singanfu. 
It  is  also  memorable,  especially  in  the  light  of  contemporary 
Christian  and  Moslem  movements  in  geographical  theory, 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century  a Chinese 
official,  named  Kiatan,  constructed  a map  thirty-three  feet 
long  by  thirty  broad,  planned  out  in  squares  of  fixed  size, 
in  which  the  Celestial  Empire,  India,  the  Caliphate,  and 
the  Dominion  of  Constantinople  were  all  inserted.1  But  it 
is  not  worth  our  while  to  enter  any  further  into  a subject 
which  has  so  little  relation  with  Western  and  Christian 
thought.  We  need  only  refer  to  such  a picture  of  the  world 
as  is  given  in  the  “ authorised  ” preface  to  Hiouen  Thsang’s 
“ Records  ” to  see  how  different  is  the  atmosphere  of  Chinese 
cosmography  from  anything  in  the  ordinary  run  of  European 
thought,  though  it  reminds  us  sometimes  of  Arabic  and 
Indian  conceptions.  In  the  middle  of  the  world,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  great  sea,  stood  Mount  Sumeru  (like  the 
Arim  of  the  Moslems),  fixed  on  a circle  of  gold,  and  with 
sun  and  moon  revolving  round  it.  On  various  sides  of  this 
are  seven  sacred  mountains,  and  seven  seas,  as  well  as  the 
four  continents  where  men  have  made  their  dwelling.  In 
the  midst  of  the  southern  continent  (Asia,  as  known  to  the 
Chinese)  lay  the  Cool  Lake 2 to  the  south  of  the  Fragrant 
Mountains  and  to  the  north  of  the  Snowy  Mountains. 
From  the  eastern  side  of  the  lake,  through  the  mouth  of  a 


1 See  Reinaud’s  edition  of  the 

Two  Mussulman  Travellers  (discours 
preliminaire,  cxxx.-cxxxiii.) ; Abel 
Remusat,  “ Sur  l’Extension  d’Empire 
Chinois  du  Cote  d’Occident,”  in  the 
“ Recueil  de  l’Academie  des  Inscrip- 


tions,” viii.  80,  etc. ; Gaubil,  “ Astro- 
nomie  Chinoise,”  ii.  74,  and  his 
“Histoire  de  la  Dynastie  T’ang,” 
in  vol.  xvi.  of  the  “Memoires  dc  la 
Chine.” 

2 The  Syr-i-kul,  source  of  the  Oxus. 


A CHINESE  MAGNET- FIGURE,  AS  USED 
IN  SHIPS  OF  EIGHTH  AND  NINTH 
CENTURIES  A.D. 


[To  face  p.  489. 


VII.]  SCIENTIFIC  GEOGRAPHY — MAPS — MAGNET.  489 


silver  ox,  flowed  the  Ganges  to  the  south-eastern  sea ; from 
the  south  of  the  lake,  through  the  mouth  of  a golden 
elephant,  the  Indus  poured  forth  to  the  south-western  sea ; 
from  the  west  of  the  lake  through  the  mouth  of  a horse  of 
lapis  lazuli,  issued  the  Oxus  to  the  north-western  sea ; and 
from  the  north  of  the  lake,  through  the  mouth  of  a crystal 
lion,  proceeded  the  River  of  China  to  the  north-eastern  sea.1 

After  this  specimen,  we  may,  perhaps,  be  excused  from 
examining  more  closely  into  Chinese  theory,  and  may  turn 
with  fresh  satisfaction  to  the  practical  side  of  their  geography. 

And  here  we  have  first  to  notice  their  claim  to  a very 
important  discovery.  The  invention  of  the  compass  has 
sometimes  been  assigned  to  the  Chinese  at  this  early  period; 
but  apparently  from  a confusion  between  the  use  of  the 
compass  proper  and  that  of  magnetized  iron.  Even  at  the 
lowest  estimate,  however,  Chinese  knowledge  on  this  point 
was  much  farther  advanced  than  that  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  world.  Claudian  has  a poem  on  the  magnet,2  but 
he  only  describes,  like  Pliny,  its  attraction  for  iron,  and 
does  not  hint  at  its  power  of  indicating  the  poles ; whereas 
the  Celestials  were  certainly  aware,  in  the  first  place,  of  the 
communication  of  magnetic  fluid  to  iron ; and  in  the  second 
place  of  the  mysterious  power  of  iron  so  magnetized,  as 
early  as  a.d.  121. 

One  of  the  earliest  methods  of  employing  this  magnetized 
iron,  was  to  place  a bar  of  the  same  in  the  arms  of  a wooden 
figure  on  a pivot ; and  beyond  this  the  invention  does  not 
seem  to  have  gone  before  the  tenth  century.  In  other 
words,  the  needle  had  not  yet  been  brought  into  use,  either 
floating  on  a straw  in  water,  or  mounted  on  a pivot ; and 


1 See  Julien,  “ Pelerins  Boud- 
dhistes  ; ” the  same  in  Beal’s  version, 
“ Buddhist  Records,”  i.  10-17,  with 


some  excellent  notes  in  both. 
2 Idyl  v. 


490 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


the  South  (which,  in  China,  took  the  place  of  the  North  as 
the  primary  quarter  of  the  heaven)  was  indicated  merely  by 
the  outstretched  hand  of  the  little  magnetized  man  upon 
the  prow  of  a vessel,  or  by  the  bar  of  polarized  iron,  which 
the  image  held  like  a spear  in  its  hands.  It  was  with  such 
magnetic  indications  that  the  Chinese,  from  the  third 
century  a.d.,  must  have  ventured  on  their  long  voyages 
from  Canton  to  Malabar  and  the  Persian  gulf ; and  it  was 
no  doubt  through  their  reliance  in  a great  measure  on  this 
safeguard  that  they  braved  the  seas  of  the  Southern  Ocean 
with  the  largest  build  of  ships  in  existence  during  the 
earlier  Middle  Ages — junks  able  to  carry  six  or  seven 
hundred  men,  whose  towering  bulk  was  still  remembered  at 
Siraf  in  the  days  of  Massoudy.1 

Next,  in  the  department  of  travel,  the  journey  of 
Fa-Hien  was  followed  a century  later  (a.d.  518)  by  the 
mission  of  Hoei-Sing  and  Sung-Yun,  to  collect  sacred  texts 
and  relics  from  “ western  countries,”  a mission  in  every  way 
similar  to  that  of  Fa-Hien,  except  that  it  was  not,  like  his, 
self-imposed.  In  this  case  the  Government,  and  especially 
the  Empress-Mother,  commissioned  two  envoys  with  definite 
orders. 

Like  their  more  famous  predecessor  and  successor,  they 
first  of  all  crossed  the  drifting  sands  or  Gobi  Desert  on 
the  way  to  Khotan,  suffering  sorely  from  the  cold  and  the 


1 See  Klaproth,  “ Lettre  sur  la 
Boussole”  (addressed  to  Alexander 
Humboldt)  ; and  Remand’s  Discours 
prdiminaire , in  his  edition  of  the 
“ Two  Mussulman  Travellers.”  The 
earliest  use  of  the  water  compass  in 
China  is  fixed  by  Klaproth  at  a.d. 
1111-17,  nearly  a century  earlier  than 
its  first  mention  in  Europe  (1180-90). 
The  magnetized  objects  must  have 


been  exceptional  in  the  fifth  century, 
for  when  Wu-Ti,  afterwards  emperor, 
stormed  Singanfu  in  417,  he  seized 
upon  one  of  these  as  a great  curiosity. 
Things  must  have  changed  before 
the  eleventh  century,  when  it  was  so 
common  that  Chinese  fortune-tellers 
rubbed  the  “point  of  a needle  with 
a magnet  stone,  so  as  to  make  it 
point  to  the  South.” 


VII.]  JOURNEY  OF  HOEI-SING  AND  SUNG-YUN,  518.  491 

wind.  From  Khotan  they  turned  south-west,  and  struggled 
through  the  gorges  of  the  Kuen-Lun,  compared  with  which 
the  most  famous  passes  and  mountains  of  China  were  as 
nothing,  and  where  men  reached  the  “middle  point  of 
heaven  and  earth.” 

Each  of  our  Chinese  travellers  does  full  justice  to  the 
mountain  scenery  of  the  Roof  of  the  World, — the  “ con- 
tinuous ascent,  the  precipitous  and  overhanging  crags, 
towering  up  to  the  very  heavens ; ” — and  Hoei-Sing  has  all 
the  enthusiasm  of  a modern  traveller  as  he  describes  the 
view  “ from  the  summit  of  the  range.”  1 “ From  this  point, 

as  a centre  looking  downwards,  it  seemed  as  though  one  were 
poised  in  mid  air.”  ISTo  trees  or  shrubs  greAv  on  these 
highlands ; the  air  was  icy  cold,  and  the  north  wind  swept 
along  the  drifting  snow.  To  west  and  east  flowed  the  rivers 
on  their  separate  course  from  this,  the  central  watershed  of 
Asia;  while  to  the  south,  in  the  “clear  vapours”  of  dawn 
and  sunset,  rose  up  “ like  gem-spires  the  great  snowy 
mountains  ” of  the  Himalaya. 

The  envoys  seem  next  to  have  entered  a land  then  ruled 
by  the  White  Huns,  so  celebrated  in  Byzantine  and  Persian 
history,  and  including  the  modern  Cashmere.  Thence  they 
made  their  way  into  Northern  India,  sometimes  crossing 
mountain  chasms  on  chains  of  iron,  whose  slippery  height 
none  but  a mountaineer  could  safely  traverse,  “ for  there  is 
nothing  to  grasp  at  in  case  of  slipping,  but  in  a moment  the 
body  is  hurled  down  10,000  fathoms.”  2 

In  the  Punjaub,  they  visited,  like  Fa-Hien,  various 
holy  sites  of  the  Buddhist  faith — the  place  of  the  Shadow, 
of  the  Staff,  of  the  Robe  and  so  forth,  of  Sakya-Mouni. 


1 See  Beal’s  “Buddhist Pilgrims” 
(1869),  a translation-of  Fa-Hien,  Hoei- 

Sing,  etc.,  pp.  182-184;  reprinted  in 


“Buddhist  Records  of  the  Western 
World.” 

2 Beal,  p.  188. 


492 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch.  ' 


During  their  stay,  which  lasted  till  521,  a fierce  war  was 
in  progress  between  the  kings  of  Peshawur 1 and  Kabul,  and 
the  Chinese  ambassadors  received  but  scanty  reverence. 
Disgusted  to  find  that  the  Indian  princes  2 paid  little  respect 
to  the  letters  of  the  Son  of  Heaven,  they  “ perceived  that 
these  remote  barbarians  were  unfit  for  exercising  public 
duties,  and  that  their  arrogancy  was  not  to  be  bridled.”  To 
Sung-Yun,  unlike  Fa-Hien,  China  was  the  true  and  only 
Central  Kingdom ; and  he  had  no  “ desire  to  be  born  ” in 
any  other.  The  loveliness  of  the  Punjaub,  “the  gentle 
breeze,  the  songs  of  the  birds,  the  trees  in  their  spring-time 
beauty,  the  butterflies  that  fluttered  over  the  flowers  ” 3 
simply  caused  him  “ to  revert  to  home  thoughts ; ” and  he 
took  his  departure  from  the  disobedient  and  “ self  reliant  ” 
Hindu  courts  “ without  formal  salutation.” 4 

Among  all  the  ventures  of  Chinese  explorers  in  this 
period,  the  most  romantic  and  the  most  doubtful  is  the 
traditional  voyage  of  certain  Buddhist  priests  to  Eastern 
lands,  the  Land  of  the  Fu-sang  Tree,  the  Land  of  Women,  the 
Land  of  Marked  Bodies,  and  the  Great  Han  country ; which 
have  been  identified  with  various  points  of  North-Eastern 
Asia  and  North-West  America,  and  even  with  California  and 
Mexico.5 


1 Ghandara. 

2 Especially  the  King  of  Ghandara 
(Peshawur). 

3 Beal,  p.  194. 

4 Page  199.  A curious  notice  is 
given  us  (pp.  199-200)  of  two  young 
lions  being  sent  to  the  King  of  i 
Ghandara  (Peshawur)  about  a.d.  520, 
and  seen  by  Sung-Yun ; he  noticed 
their  “ fiery  temper  and  courageous 
mien,”  and  also  that  the  common 
pictures  of  such  animals  in  China 
were  not  truthful. 


5 See  (1.)  the  elaborate  monograph 
of  Yining,  “ An  inglorious  Columbus ; 
evidence  that  . . . Buddhist  monks 
. . . discovered  America  in  the  fifth 
century  a.d.”  (1885). 

2.  Neumann  and  Leland,“  Fusang, 
etc.”  (1875.) 

3.  Bretschneider’s  article  in 
Chinese  Recorder,  1870  (October). 

4.  Theo.  Simpson  in  “ Notes  and 
Queries  on  China  and  Japan  ” (1869). 
And  for  the  initial  discussion  of  the 

| whole  question — 


VII.]  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 


493 


The  narrative  records  how  the  kingdom  of  Fu-Sang  was 
made  known  to  the  Chinese,  at  a time  which  answers  to  the 
year  of  Christ  499,  by  one  Hoei-Sin,  who  seems  to  have 
lived  in  that  country  for  some  time  past.  It  was  situated, 
he  declared,  to  the  east  of  the  Middle  or  Celestial  Kingdom, 
20,000  furlongs  (li)  east  of  the  Great  Han  Country.  It 
took  its  name  from  its  fusang  trees,  which  served  the 
inhabitants  for  food,  fibre,  cloth,  paper,  and  timber.  The 
people  of  this  country  waged  no  war  and  had  no  armour  ; 
they  possessed  horses,  deer,  and  cattle  with  horns  of  wonder- 
ful length,  that  could  bear  an  immense  weight ; 1 and  they 


5.  De  Guignes’  “ Investigation  of 
the  Navigation  of  the  Chinese  to  the 
Coast  of  America”;  in  the  “Pro- 
ceedings of  the  (Paris)  Academy  of 
Inscriptions  and  Belles  Lettres,”  vol. 
xxviii.  a.d.  1761.  As  early  as  August 
28,  1752,  this  opinion  of  De  Guignes 
was  known  to  Pere  Gaubil,  who  writes 
from  Pekin  under  that  date,  to  ex- 
press his  disbelief  in  the  Chinese 
account. 

6.  Similar  incredulity  was  ex- 
pressed by  Philippe  Buache,  in  his 
“ Considerations  on  New  Discoveries 
to  theNorth  of  the  Great  Sea”  (1753); 
and  by  Humboldt,  in  his  “Views  of 
the  Cordilleras  ” (1814) ; as  well  as 
by  Pere  Hyacinthe,  in  his  “People 
of  Central  Asia;  ” and,  above  all,  by 
Klaproth,  in  vol.  li.  of  the  “Nou- 
velles  Annales  des  Voyages  ” (1831). 
But,  on  the  other  hand, — 

7.  The  Chevalier  de  Paravey  sup- 
ported De  Guignes  (1844),  as  did 
Neumann  in  vol.  xvi.  of  the  Zeit- 
schrift  fur  Allgemeine  Erdkunde, 
whose  article  was  incorporated  by 
Leland  in  his  “ Fusang,”  as  noticed 
above. 

8.  In  1865  M.  Vivien  de  Saint 


Martin,  in  the  Geographical  An- 
nual for  that  year,  combated  the 
whole  theory  of  an  American  dis- 
covery, in  a paper  “ An  Old  Story  set 
afloat  again  ;”  and  his  arguments 
were  repeated  in  1875,  at  the  Nancy 
Congress  of  Americanists,  by  M. 
Lucien  Adam. 

9.  De  Guignes’  view,  however, 
was  again  championed  in  1876,  by  the 
Marquis  D’Hervey  de  St.  Denys,  in 
his  “ Memoire  sur  . . . Fousang  ” 
(Acad.  Inscr.  and  Belles  Lettres)  and 
in  his  translation  of  the  thirteenth- 
century  Chinese  classic,  called  “ The 
Ethnography  of  Foreign  Peoples.” 

10.  Lastly,  Professor  Wells  Wil- 
liams, in  the  American  Oriental 
Society’s  publications,  Oct.  25,  1880, 
expressed  his  disbelief  in  the  terms 
of  Klaproth,  to  which  he  adds  some 
new  points ; while  on  the  positive  side 
Eichthal  severely  criticized  Klaproth 
and  the  other  sceptics. 

11.  Vining,  in  the  earlier  part  of 
his  treatise,  reprints  all  the  more 
important  passages  of  the  Fusang 
literature. 

1 One  hundred  and  twenty  bushels. 


494 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


used  these  animals,  and  especially  their  tamed  stags,  to 
draw  their  carts  (like  the  reindeer  of  the  Lapps  to-day). 

Among  fruits  they  enjoyed  pears  and  grapes ; among 
metals,  gold,  silver,  and  copper — but  they  set  no  value  on 
any  of  these  except  the  last. 

They  were  ruled  by  a king  who  changed  the  colour  of 
his  garments  (green,  red,  yellow,  white,  and  black),  like 
some  of  the  Tartars,  according  to  a cycle  of  years,  but  who 
took  no  part  in  government  for  the  first  three  years  of  his 
reign.  Their  nobles  were  divided  into  three  classes,  and  the 
crimes  of  these  exalted  personages  were  punished  with 
peculiar  solemnity : “ They  were  put  under  ground  with 

food  and  drink ; ” a ceremonial  leave  was  taken  of  them  by 
their  friends  and  all  the  people ; and  they  were  left  “ sur- 
rounded with  ashes.” 

The  men  of  Fusang  punished  nearly  all  crimes  with 
imprisonment ; for  smaller  offences  they  employed  a dungeon 
in  the  south  of  their  country ; but  the  greater  criminals  were 
immured  for  life  in  a northern  prison,  and  their  children 
were  enslaved.  The  marriage  ceremonies  of  this  country 
were  much  the  same  as  in  China,  except  that  the  intending 
husband  had  to  serve  the  girl’s  family  for  a year ; like  the 
Celestials,  they  paid  extreme  reverence  to  parents,  and  made 
offerings  to  the  images  of  ancestors. 

Till  lately  they  had  known  nothing  of  the  law  of  Buddha  ; 
but  some  forty  years  before  Hoei-Sin  returned  to  China,  five 
devotees  from  Central  Asia1  came  by  sea  to  Fusang  and 
taught  their  faith.  By  them  the  “ holy  images  ” were 
dispersed  throughout  the  country. 

The  Kingdom  of  Women  was  next  described  as  a 

O 


1 From  Kipin,  says  the  narrative  ; 
that  is,  apparently,  from  Cophene  or 
Afghanistan,  a very  holy  land  of 


Buddhists  at  this  time,  before  Islam 
overflowed  it,  as  we  see  from  the 
pilgrim  records  of  Fa-Hien,  etc. 


VII.]  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.  495 


thousand  furlongs  east  of  Fusang.  The  people  were  erect 
in  stature,  and  very  white  in  colour,  but  covered  with  an 
immense  growth  of  hair  that  reached  to  the  ground.  Their 
children  could  walk  when  little  more  than  three  months  old, 
and  within  four  years  they  were  fully  grown.  They  fed 
upon  a salt  plant  like  wormwood,  and  fled  in  terror  at  the 
approach  of  a human  being. 

The  Land  of  Marked  Bodies,  like  that  of  the  Dog-headed 
Men,  and  of  Great  Han,  was  discovered  and  described,  accord- 
ing to  the  Chinese  annals,  some  time  after  the  return  of 
Hoei-Sin,  and  between  the  years  a.d.  502-556. 

The  first-named  country,  of  the  tattooed  race  who  “ marked 
their  bodies  like  wild  beasts,”  was  seven  thousand  furlongs 
to  the  north-east  of  Japan.  Like  the  Brahmins  of  India, 
the  nobles  bore  upon  their  foreheads  certain  lines  which 
showed  their  rank.  As  a people  they  were  merry,  hos- 
pitable, and  peaceful — easily  pleased  with  things  of  small 
value.  The  house  of  their  king  was  adorned  with  gold, 
silver,1  and  precious  articles,  and  in  traffic  they  used  gems 
as  the  standard  of  value. 

Another  entry  in  the  records  of  the  Liang  dynasty  tells 
how  some  Chinese  mariners  were  driven  by  the  winds  to  an 
island  where  they  found  men  of  unintelligible  language, 
who  had  dogs’  heads,  and  barked  for  speech.  Among  other 
things  they  used  small  beans2  for  food;  their  clothing 
resembled  “ linen  cloth  ; ” from  loose  earth  they  constructed 
round  dwellings,  with  doors  or  openings  like  the  mouths  of 
burrows.  Lastly,  the  Great  Han  Country  was  described  in 
the  early  part  of  the  sixth  century  a.d.,  as  five  thousand 


1 The  Chinese  account  appears  to 
hint  at  their  use  of  quicksilver — 

“water-silver,” — but  the  expression 
is  of  doubtful  meaning. 


2 In  this  some  have  tried  to  recog- 
nize a description  of  the  Mexican 
centli,  or  maize. 


496 


CHINESE  GEOGRArHY. 


[Oh. 


furlongs  east  of  the  Land  of  Marked  Bodies,  to  which  the 
customs  of  the  former  were  very  similar  in  their  rude 
simplicity.  Only  the  language  was  different. 

In  this  account  it  is  evident  that  Fusang  is  the  central 
point.  No  one  who  regards  this  as  apocryphal  is  likely  to 
attach  any  importance  or  reality  to  the  other  countries 
named;  and  some  of  the  staunchest  defenders  of  the 
American  theory,  like  Neumann,  have  limited  their  apology 
entirely  to  Fusang,  treating  the  Land  of  Women,  the  Great 
Han  Country,  and  the  rest,  as  a sort  of  legendary  appendix 
to  the  true  story,  which  it  has  discredited  by  association. 
Fusang,  it  is  said  in  effect,  can  be  shown  to  be  some  part 
of  North  America,  but  the  rest  of  the  narrative  is  stuffed 
with  fables,  and  beyond  all  hope  of  identification.  On  the 
other  hand,  some 1 have  boldly  maintained  that  every  point 
can  be  fixed ; that  the  whole  hangs  together ; and  that  fatal 
injury  is  done  by  the  surrender  of  any  part — for  if  Fusang 
is  Mexico,  it  is  no  less  clear  that  the  Land  of  Women  is 
Panama,  that  the  Marked  Bodies  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Aleutian  Islands,  and  that  the  Great  Han  Country  corresponds 
to  the  southern  shore  of  Alaska. 

With  a more  modest  assurance,  the  great  scholar 2 who 
first  made  known  to  Europe  the  entire  Fusang  record,  was 
content  with  California  as  his  equivalent  for  Fusang  itself, 
placing  Great  Han  in  Kamskatka;  and,  after  all  that  has 
been  said  on  both  sides  of  the  question  since  the  time  of  He 
Guignes,  his  conclusion  (with  some  modification)  remains, 
perhaps,  the  most  probable.  That  is  to  say,  while  it  seems 
unreasonable  to  reject  altogether . the  Chinese  tradition  of 
the  discovery  of  a Far  Eastern  land  answering  to  some  part 
of  Western  North  America;  and  while  it  is  impossible  to 
doubt  that  in  the  past,  as  in  the  present,  men  could  pass 
1 E.q.  Leland  and  Vining.  2 De  Guignes. 


VII.]  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.  497 


from  one  continent  to  the  Mother  by  the  stepping-stones 1 of 
the  Aleutian  Islands,  or  the  narrow  passage  of  Behring’s 
Straits2 — yet  it  is  hazardous  to  attempt  anything  like  a 
series  of  positive  and  unqualified  “locations,”  and  both 
unhistorical  and  extravagant  to  bring  down  the  places 
named  into  the  tropical  belt  of  the  New  World.  Unhistorical, 
because  in  the  first  place  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
climate  of  regions  such  as  Alaska,  like  the  climate  of  Iceland 
and  Greenland,3  was  then  far  milder  than  at  present ; and 
because,  in  the  second  place,  it  is  not  only  unnecessary,  but 
inaccurate,  to  overlook  the  perpetual  movements  of  migration 
in  the  American  continent  before  the  European  discovery 
of  1492.  For  if  from  Aztec,  or  pre-Aztec  parallels  in  modern 
Mexico,  we  can  establish  anything  like  a resemblance  with 
the  people  of  Fusang  as  described  by  the  Chinese,  we  remain 
face  to  face  with  the  certainty  that  all  its  races  once  came 
into  Central  America  from  the  Far  North  (according  to  the 
native  tradition),  and  so  with  the  probability  that  in  such  an 
early  period  as  the  fifth  century  a.d.,  the  race  which  has  left 
the  Fusang  characteristics  in  our  Mexico  must  then  have 


1 Captain  Barclay  Kennon,  who 
superintended  a recent  survey  of 
North  Pacific  waters  for  the  United 
States  Government,  in  a letter  to 
Leland,  testifies  that  a sailor  in  an 
open  boat  could  cross  from  Kams- 
katka  to  the  peninsula  of  Alaska  by 
the  Aleutian  Islands  during  the 
summer  months,  and  hardly  ever  be 
out  of  sight  of  land.  Add  to  this, 
that  the  sea  there  abounds  in  fish, 
and  that  the  warm  Japanese  current 
takes  the  very  direction  of  Hoei  Sin’s 
suggested  voyage. 

2 Where  Captain  Cook,  for  in- 
stance, on  August  12,  1778,  was  in 

sight  of  Asia  and  America  at  the 


same  moment. 

3  Thus  the  Vikings  of  the  eleventh 
to  fifteenth  centuries  possessed  twenty 
churches  on  a single  one  of  the 
Greenland  Bays,  with  cornfields  and 
pasturage,  and  enjoyed  a climate 
sufficiently  mild  for  a literature  to 
flourish,  and  for  constant  commercial 
intercourse  to  go  on  with  Norway, 
Iceland,  and  “Vinland.”  The  in- 
creased severity  of  the  sub-Arctic 
zone  has,  of  course,  affected  Green- 
land far  more  than  Alaska,  which  is 
still  described  as  a country  of  “ pine- 
apples and  polar  bears,  icebergs  and 
strawberries.” 

2 K 


498 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


been  inhabiting  a region  at  least  as  distant  as  the  latitude 
of  Lake  Superior. 

Extravagant  also,  because  a journey  from  the  Yellow 
Sea  to  the  Mexican  Coast,  and  still  more  to  Panama,  could 
not  possibly  have  been  described  as  one  of  thirty-two 
or  thirty-three  thousand  furlongs.1  Every  Chinese  traveller 
to  India  tends  to  over-estimate  his  distances,  sometimes 
at  nearly  double  their  actual  extent;  and  if  this  was 
the  case  by  land,  where  constant  opportunities  presented 
themselves  for  checking  and  correcting  calculations,  and 
where  men  passed  through  many  towns  whose  intervals  one 
from  another  were  pretty  accurately  known,  how  much  more 
would  this  occur  in  a coasting  voyage 2 of  so  vast  a sweep, 
amounting,  even  in  hard  modern  figures,  to  over  8000  miles.3 
Need  we,  then,  look  any  further  than  the  Peninsula,  Strait, 
and  southern  coast  of  Alaska,  or,  at  furthest,  the  islands 
which  fringe  the  western  coast  of  British  Columbia,  for  the 
places  of  this  narrative  ? 

It  is  only  fair  to  notice  that  powerful  objections  have 
been  raised  to  the  whole  theory  of  an  American  Fusang. 
As  Klaproth  pointed  out  long  ago,  the  mention  of  vines 
and  horses  is  a serious  stumbling-block,  for  both  these 
objects  were  absolutely  new  to  the  American  soil  when  the 
Spaniards  introduced  them — so,  at  least,  it  was  believed  both 
by  Europeans  and  by  natives. 

Again,  as  we  have  already  hinted,  the  Chinese  had  no 
satisfactory  means  of  determining  the  length  of  their 
journeys  at  sea,  and  their  statements  of  so  many  thousand 
furlongs  are  simply  guess-work. 


1 Li. 

2 No  mention  is  made  of  a direct 
passage  across  the  ocean,  which,  of 
course,  is  in  itself  unlikely,  and 

would  have  been  a good,  deal  longer 


than  the  great  venture  of  Columbus. 

3  i.e.  A coasting  from  the  modern 
Shanghai  by  E.  Coast  of  Japan,  and 
across  Ocean  by  Aleutian  Islands. 


VII.]  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.  499 


Once  more,  the  name  of  Fusang  raises  one  or  two  special 
difficulties.  First  of  all,  those  who  identify  the  fusang 
tree  with  the  Mexican  aloe  seem  to  overlook  the  clear  state- 
ment of  the  original  record,  that  the  country  was  named 
from  the  tree  or  shrub  “Useful  Mulberry,”  familiar  to  the 
Chinese  long  before  Hoei-Sin ; as  well  as  the  fact  that  the 
Mexican  aloe,  so  far  as  known,  was  purely  indigenous  to 
the  New  World,  and  only  imported  into  Asia  from  the 
Philippines  in  the  sixteenth  century  under  the  name  of 
Spanish  Hemp.  As  a matter  of  fact,  the  fusang  tree  of  the 
narrative  answers  better  to  the  paper-mulberry  of  Japan 
than  to  the  Mexican,  aloe ; and  from  many,  if  not  most  of 
the  details  given,  Japan  would  seem  to  be  the  best  alterna- 
tive to  North-West  America.  Japanese  writers  claim  that 
Fusang  was  an  ancient  title  of  their  country,  “ on  account 
of  its  beauty.” 1 The  copper  which  the  original  story 
mentions  as  so  useful  in  Fusang,  has  long  been  a celebrated 
product,  both  in  Japan  itself  and  in  the  Loo-Choo  Islands 
adjoining;  here,  too,  the  vine  and  the  horse  have  been 
known  from  remote  antiquity  ; while  iron  is  even  now  almost 
as  rare  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Mikado  as  in  Fusang. 

The  whole  description  of  Hoei-Sin  has  accordingly  been 
conjectured,2  with  some  plausibility,  to  refer  to  an  early 
attempt  of  Buddhist  missionaries  upon  the  south-west  region 
of  Japan,  near  Nagasaki ; for  although  the  annals  of  Japan 
are  said  to  fix  the  first  incoming  of  the  Law  of  Buddha  at 
a.d.  552,  this  may  well  refer  to  the  formal  conversion  of  the 
Islands,  and  need  not  at  all  exclude  a pioneer  venture  half  a 
century  earlier. 

Korea  had  received  the  “ Three  Precious  Ones  3 ” between 

1 According  to  Klaproth.  3 “ Buddha,”  “ The  Law,”  and 

2 As  by  Klaproth,  Bretschneider,  “ The  Congregation.” 
and  Theo.  Simson. 


500 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Oh. 


a.d.  372  and  384,  and  it  would  be  strange  if  the  Faith,  which 
had  already  travelled  from  India,  should  have  made  no 
attempt,  in  its  most  zealous  and  proselytising  age,  to  cross 
the  Strait  of  Korea,  about  the  width  of  St.  George’s  Channel, 
in  the  next  hundred  years  (c.  380-480). 

The  hairy  people  of  the  “Land  of  Women”  have 
naturally  suggested  to  many  the  Ainos  of  Northern  Japan ; 
but  the  “Marked  Bodies”  certainly  point  rather  to  the 
American  Indians  than  to  any  people  of  North-Eastern 
Asia ; and  having  now  reviewed  the  evidence  for  an  Asiatic, 
and  against  an  American  Fusang,  we  must  glance  at  the 
arguments  which,  as  we  have  hinted  already,  make  possible 
and  defensible  the  main  lines  of  De  Guignes’  position. 

The  inquirer  may  of  course,  like  Bretschneider,  reject 
the  whole  tradition  as  the  invention  of  “ a lying  Buddhist,” 
and  a “ consummate  humbug,”  but  any  one  not  prepared  for 
such  drastic  measures  will  be  inclined  to  weigh  carefully 
the  analogy  repeatedly  advanced  by  modern  anatomists  and 
physiologists  between  some  of  the  Tartar  tribes  and  some  of 
the  American  aboriginals.  The  same  cautious  person  will 
also  give  some  attention  to  the  argument  of  a striking 
likeness  between  certain  architectural  monuments  of  Central 
America  and  those  of  Asiatic  Buddhism  ; 1 to  the  discovery 


1 Thus  Yining  brings  forward 
eight  curious  instances : — 

1.  An  image  found  in  Campeachy 
looking  like  a Buddhist  monk  (p. 
571  of  “An  inglorious  Columbus,” 
and  on  cover  of  volume). 

2.  A sculptured  table  at  Palenque 
resembling  a seated  Buddha  with  a 
worshipper  offering  to  it  (pp.  591-592). 

3.  A seated  figure  on  a lion  (?) 
throne,  in  stucco,  also  at  Palenque 
(p.  593);  both  in  posture  and  in 
attributes,  this  recalls  one  type  of 


Buddha  statue,  but  with  serious 
differences;  and  the  face,  we  may 
observe,  is  exactly  that  of  an  Ameri- 
can Indian  chief. 

4.  The  fa$ade  of  a building  at 
Uxmal,  with  a seated  figure  like  a 
Buddha. 

5.  A Mexican  image  somewhat 
Buddhistic,  and  said  to  represent 
Quetzalcoatl  (p.  595). 

6.  A temple  at  Palenque,  bearing 
some  resemblance  to  the  Boer- 
Buddha  in  Java. 


VII]  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.  501 

in  North  America  of  fossil  remains  of  the  horse,  some  so 
recent 1 “ that  they  must  be  regarded  as  coeval  with  man ; ’ 
to  the  antecedent  possibility  and  even  probability  of  at  least 
occasional  transit  from  Asia  to  America,  and  vice  versa , in 
the  latitude  of  the  Behring  Sea ; to  the  undoubted  achieve- 
ment of  the  Vikings  in  the  face  of  much  greater  difficulties 
on  the  eastern  side ; and  to  the  likelihood  of  an  original 
migration  of  the  human  race  into  the  New  World  from 
Northern  Asia  rather  than  from  any  other  quarter. 

The  Chinese  record,  if  it  is  to  be  treated  fairly,  must  not 
be  minimised  any  more  than  it  must  be  exaggerated ; and 
if  its  words  and  measurements  forbid  us  to  identify  Fusang 
with  Mexico  or  Panama,  they  also  surely  require  something 
more  extensive  than  a journey  to  Japan,  which  the  Chinese 
of  Marco  Polo’s  day  reckoned  as  only  fifteen  hundred  miles 
from  their  southern  provinces,  and  which  is  distinctly  named 
in  our  present  narrative  as  a starting-point  for  the  Land  of 
Marked  Bodies.  Nothing  has  yet  been  found  in  Japan 
to  answer  to  Hoei-Sin’s  account  of  the  prison  customs  of 
Fusang,  the  assembly  of  the  people  to  judge  guilty  noble- 
men, the  peculiar  punishment  of  the  same,  the  sequence  of 
colours  in  the  royal  garments,  the  use  of  deer  as  beasts 
of  burden,  and  other  particulars. 

The  tin,  hammer-shaped  coins  of  the  Aztecs  have  been 
compared  with  the  shoe-shaped  ingots  of  “Sycee”  silver, 


7.  Some  (doubtful)  elephant  sculp- 
tures at  Palenque. 

8.  “Elephant  pipes,”  in  carved 
stone,  from  Iowa,  U.S.A.  These  last 
bear  a most  striking  resemblance  to 
a tusliless  elephant,  and  have  sug- 
gested to  some  the  conventional 
symbol  of  Buddha ; but  the  latter  is 
always  tusked  in  Asia,  and  the 
American  finds  point  rather  to  a 
native  variety  of  the  great  beast. 


We  must  remember,  moreover,  that 
anthropologists  have  brought  to- 
gether apparently  strong  evidence 
of  the  simultaneous  occurrence  of 
forms  of  worship,  and  social  customs, 
etc.,  among  savage  tribes  in  utterly 
different  parts  of  the  world,  and 
quite  independently  of  one  another 
(Lubbock). 

1 Neumann  and  Leland,  ch.  iv. 


502 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[On. 


current  in  China;  the  copper  used  so  largely  in  Central 
America  (instead  of  gold  and  silver)  before  the  European 
invasion,  seems  once  to  have  been  worked  as  far  north  as 
Lake  Superior ; and  traces  of  “ Mexican  ” art  and  influence 
have  been  found  as  far  as  Tennessee  along  the  course  of  that 
migration  which,  as  we  may  surmise,  had  crossed  from  Asia 
into  Alaska  many  ages  before  Hoei-Sin,  which  Buddhist 
travellers  of  the  fifth  century  a.d.  may  have  discovered  on 
its  slow  progress  southwards,  and  which  may  have  left  in 
its  final  tropical  home  some  memorials  of  an  intercourse 
with  the  Old  World. 

Both  in  China  and  in  Japan  the  tradition  of  an  ancient 
discovery  of  countries  far  to  the  East  is  said  to  be  very 
old,  very  widespread,  and  very  obstinate;1  and  a modern 
instance  gives  some  colour  to  it.  In  1833,  before  the 
introduction  of  Western  appliances  and  enterprise  into 
Nippon,  a Japanese  junk  was  wrecked  near  Queen  Charlotte’s 
Island  off  British  Columbia ; just  as  in  1832  a fishing  smack 
from  the  same  country,  with  only  nine  men  on  board,  driven 
out  of  its  course  between  Formosa  and  Tokio,  arrived  safely 
at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Such  undoubted  facts  may  well 
encourage  those  who  believe  in  the  substantial  truth  of  this 
Chinese  claim  in  the  way  of  American  discovery,  and  a 
negative  argument  from  an  equally  undoubted  fact  may  be 
added.  No  one  now  disputes  that  the  Norsemen  reached 
the  eastern  coast  of  America  about  a.d.  1000,  and  repeatedly 
revisited  the  same ; yet  no  one  can  point  to  a single  proof 
of  their  presence,  or  relic  of  their  occupation.  All  the 
evidence  comes  from  the  written  traditions  of  the  Yikings 
themselves.  Why,  then,  should  we  ask  for  so  much  more 
in  confirmation  of  the  word  of  Hoei-Sin  and  his  Buddhist 

1 Contrast  with  this  the  distinct  I that  beyond  Japan  was  no  inhabited 
opinion  of  the  Arabs,  e.g.  of  Aboulfeda,  | land. 


VII.]  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.  503 


friends  than  we  expect  in  support  of  the  pretensions  of  Ked 
Eric  and  his  house  ? Grant  that  the  “ internal  ” witness 
(from  consistency  and  clearness  of  statement,  absence  of 
fable,  and  so  forth)  is  far  weaker  in  the  case  of  the  Chinese 
than  in  that  of  the  Norsemen ; but  this  is  surely  balanced 
to  some  degree  by  the  greater  “monumental,”  and  other 
present-day  evidence,  of  the  former  claim. 

Last  of  our  examples  of  Chinese  travel  comes  the  journey 
of  Hiouen-Thsang  1 (a.d.  629-646),  undertaken  at  the  very 
time  which  saw  the  first  overflow  of  Islam,  the  collapse  of 
Persia,  and  the  conquest  of  Egypt  and  Syria  by  the  Arabs, 
who,  as  they  advanced  with  hardly  a pause  from  the  far 
south-west  of  Asia,  missed  only  by  a short  interval  a meeting 
with  the  Chinese  pilgrim  on  the  banks  of  the  Oxus. 

It  is  equally  noteworthy  that  this  age  was  also  one  of 
revived  Chinese  activity  and  rule  in  Further  India  and 
Central  Asia,  resulting  from  the  fresh  vigour  imparted  to 
the  Empire  by  the  great  rulers  of  the  seventh  century, 
Yang-Ti  and  Taitsung.  As  usual,  a fresh  start  of  exploring 
energy  accompanies  a fresh  lease  of  national  life  ; extensive 
and  daring  travellers  are  not  often  to  be  found  among  the 
men  of  effete  races  and  disordered  commonwealths. 

Like  Ea-Hien,  the  new  “ Master  of  the  Law  ” (so  his 


1 The  memorials  of  Hiouen-Thsang 
are  preserved  in  two  works : 1.  The 
“ Records  of  the  Western  World 
(Si-yu-ki);  ” 2.  “History  of  the  Life 
and  Journeys  of  H.  T.”  (by  Hwuy- 
Le  and  Yen-tsung,  two  of  his  dis- 
ciples). The  whole  of  these  writings 
were  edited  and  translated  by  Stanis- 
las Julien  (1853,  etc.)  in  his  “Voy- 
ages des  Pelerins  Bouddhistes  ” 
(3  vols.),  which  is  the  text  here  re- 
ferred to  (especially  of  vol.  i.,  “ The 
Life  and  Journeys  ”);  also  by  S.  Beal, 


in  Trubner’s  Oriental  Series,  1888 
(the  “ Life  ,J),  and  1884  (the  “ Re- 
cords ”).  The  “ Records  ” are  more 
in  the  form  of  a gazetteer  or  geo- 
graphical dictionary  than  of  a con- 
tinuous narrative,  concerning  them- 
selves with  a description  of  all  the 
countries  known  to  Hiouen-Thsang, 
but  passing  over  in  silence  many 
parts  of  his  journey.  Refs,  to  pages 
without  book-title  are  to  the  “ Life  ” 
in  Julien’s  edition. 


504 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


disciples  style  him)  travelled  into  the  West,  “ into  the  Land 
of  the  Brahmins,  to  seek  for  the  Law,”  for  copies  of  Buddhist 
Scriptures  wanting  in  China ; like  his  predecessor,  once  more, 
he  set  out  from  Singanfu,  “ the  divine  city  of  Chang- An,”  in 
the  north-west  corner  of  the  Empire ; like  him,  he  crossed 
the  Gobi  Desert,  and  suffered  from  all  the  illusions  of  the 
demons  in  that  terrible  waste.1  Here  guides  and  attendants 
all  forsook  him,  and  to  his  excited  and  fearful  imagination 
there  appeared  visions  of  brilliant  armies,  brigand  troops, 
squadrons  of  horses  and  of  camels,  each  moment  changing 
form  before  his  eyes.  As  any  Christian  might  have  done, 
he  routed  the  phantoms  with  a few  words  of  Scripture  or 
devotion;  but  in  the  night,  the  torches  of  wicked  spirits 
blazed  around  him,  and  by  day  sandstorms  almost  blinded 
him  with  their  dust.  For  five  days  he  tasted  nothing,  but 
at  last  he  reached  an  oasis,  and  soon  after  emerged  into  the 
pasture-land  of  the  Oigour  country  in  Eastern  Turkestan,2 
the  modern  Khamil,  near  the  Southern  Altai  Range.  Thence 
he  passed  through  Kao-Chang  or  Turfan,  Karashar,  and  the 
Aksu  District,  on  the  north-east  of  Kashgar,  purposing  to 
cross  the  Icy  Range  of  the  Bolor  or  Tengri  Khan.  But  on 
the  hither  side  of  these  mountains  Hiouen-Thsang  was 
detained  two  months  by  heavy  snows  upon  that  gigantic 
barrier,  where  “ the  endless  sheets  of  snow  and  ice  that  had 
collected  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  stretched  up  to 
mingle  with  the  clouds,”  and  where  avalanche  and  ice  block 
fell  ever  and  anon  from  the  mountain  sides  upon  the  narrow 
pass.3  His  crossing  was  probably  made  by  the  Muzart 


1 “ Life,”  p.  22  (Julien). 

2 Pages  28,  29. 

3 Pages  53,  54.  A curious  detail 
is  adde  l in  tlie  “ Records  of  Western 
Countries  ” (Beal,  i.  p.  25) : “ Those 
who  travel  this  road  should  not  wear 
red  garments,  nor  carry  calabashes.” 


Red  clothes  would  doubtless  irritate 
the  demons  of  the  mountain,  and 
calabashes  might  burst,  when  the 
water  in  them  had  frozen,  with  so 
loud  a report  as  to  cause  some  of  the 
quaking  masses  of  snow  and  ice  to 
fall  upon  the  traveller. 


VII.] 


JOURNEY  OF  HIOUEN-THSANG,  629-646. 


505 


defile  under  Tengri  Khan,  where  all  the  warmth  of  fur-lined 
garments  could  not  save  some  of  his  new  companions  from 
the  piercing  cold.  On  the  western  side,  the  pilgrim 
descended  to  the  Lake  of  Issyk-Kul,  “ a vast  sheet  of  water 
with  high-swelling  waves,”  to  the  south  of  the  district  of 
the  Seven  Rivers,  where  he  met  the  Khan  of  the  Turks  out 
hunting.  In  the  light  of  recent  discoveries,  we  may  he 
pretty  sure  that  Nestorian  Christianity  was  then  active  in 
this  very  region,  but  Hiouen-Thsang  tells  us  nothing  about 
it ; although  he  notices  the  Buddhism  of  some  of  these  Turks, 
the  fire-worship  of  others,  and  the  silken  garments  of  their 
chief  and  his  court — evidence  of  a trade  connection  with 
China,  or  at  least  with  Khotan. 

From  Issyk-Kul  he  made  his  way  to  Talas,1  the  modern 
Turkestan,  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Jaxartes.  Here 
the  Turks  had  ruled  for  the  last  half  century  around  the 
“ thousand  springs  ” from  the  Bolor  to  the  Sea  of  Aral,  and 
from  Lake  Balkash  to  the  Hindu-Kush.  It  is  not  without 
interest  to  compare  the  reception  of  Hiouen-Thsang  by  the 
Turkish  khan  with  that  which  his  ancestor  Dizabul  gave  in 
a.d.  571  to  Zemarchus  and  the  embassy  of  the  Byzantine 
Justin  II.2 

To  the  Eastern,  these  Tartars  appeared  chiefly  interesting 
as  Buddhists;  to  the  Western,  as  good  fighting  material 
useful  in  an  alliance  against  Persia.  From  Talas  to  the 
Indian  frontier  the  course  of  Hiouen-Thsang  is  extremely 
hard  to  follow.  He  seems,  however,  to  have  passed  through 
Tashkend  and  Nujkend,  and  so  across  the  Jaxartes  to  Samar- 
cand.  To  the  north-west  of  this  he  describes  a desert  as 


1 The  chief  emporium  of  the 
country  beyond  the  Jaxartes,  fre- 

quently mentioned  in  Arab  writers 
— where  the  Chinese  suffered  a severe 


defeat  from  a Moslem  army  in  or 
about  a.d.  751  (De  Guignes,  i.  58). 

2 Julien,  55-59. 


506 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Cii. 


barren  though  not  as  vast  as  Gobi,  the  great  waste  of  the 
Kizil-Kum  to  the  south-east  of  the  Aral  Sea.  But  there  i& 
no  reason  to  believe  that  he  traversed  this ; 1 for  his  route 
lay  to  the  east  by  way  of  Samarcand,  Kashania,2  and  possibly 
Bokhara ; and  he  finally  crosses  the  Oxus  in  its  upper  course 
near  Balkh,  making  his  way  through  the  Iron  Gates  that  lie 
some  ninety  miles  south-south-east  from  Samarcand.  Thence 
he  arrived  in  Bactria ; passed  from  Balkh  to  Bamian,  where 
the  rock-hewn  figures  of  Buddha  that  he  describes  may  still 
be  seen ; 3 and  so  reached  at  last  the  land  of  Kapisa  on  the 
upper  valley  of  the  Kabul  River,  whose  chief  town,  “ at  the 
foot  of  a mountain  in  the  north,”  may  perhaps  be  the  modern 
Afghan  city  of  Ghorband.4 

He  had  now  entered  within  the  more  ordinary  limits  of 
Levantine  trade  and  travel ; in  Samarcand  he  found  himself 
outside  the  frontiers  of  Buddhistic  kingdoms,  and  among  a 
people  of  fire-worshipping  apostates ; he  claims  to  have  con- 
verted the  king  to  the  ancient  faith, 5 and  to  have  refilled  the 
empty  convents,  which  in  Fa-Hien’s  day  seem  to  have  been 
prosperous  enough.  May  we  not  conjecture  that  Buddhism 
had  receded — for  it  had  certainly  not  advanced — on  this  its 
south-west  border,  in  the  interval  ? 6 South  of  the  Oxus, 
however,  and  especially  in  Bamian,  the  traveller’s  faith  was 
in  no  need  of  revival ; relics  of  Buddha  were  still  honoured 


1 Any  more  than  Kharizmia,  which 
he  also  describes,  and  which  is  per- 
haps the  most  westerly  region  noticed 
in  the  “Records  of  Western  Countries” 
(Beal,  i.  35).  The  two  texts  of 
Hiouen-Thsang,  the  “ Life  ” and  the 
“ Records,  ” are  inconsistent  here. 

2 Half-way  between  Samarcand 
and  Bokhara. 

3 One  of  these,  the  Life  of  H.  T. 

credits  with  a length  of  1000  feet. 


It  was  recumbent,  and  within  the 
precincts  of  a monastery.  This  sounds 
far-fetched,  and  sixty  yards  appeal  to 
be  the  greatest  length  discovered  by 
modern  explorers  in  the  Bamian 
Statues.  See  Beal’s  edition  of  the 
“ Records,”  i.  51,  52. 

4 A short  distance  north-north- 
west of  Kabul  itself. 

5 “Life,”  pp.  59,  60  (Julien). 

6 a.d.  400-600. 


VII.]  HIOUEN-THSANG  IN  CENTRAL  ASIA  AND  INDIA.  507 


there,  and  the  monks  greeted  their  visitor  with  the  respect 
that  befitted  a doctor  of  the  law. 

Hiouen-Thsang  describes  with  the  natural  interest  of 
personal  experience  the  Iron  Gates 1 of  the  Oxus  (often  com- 
pared by  others  with  those  of  Derbend  on  the  Caspian)  ; the 
fertility  of  Balkh,  so  often  celebrated  by  the  Arabs ; and  the 
snowy  mountains  that  surrounded  Bamian  and  Kabul,  re- 
calling the  glaciers  of  Tengri  Khan. 

It  was  apparently  through  the  Khyber  Pass  that  the 
traveller  now  entered  India,  on  his  way  to  the  kingdom  of 
Ghandara,  whose  capital,  as  in  the  days  of  Sung-Yun,  was 
then  fixed  in  the  modern  Peshawur,  at  the  eastern  end  of 
the  Khyber  Gorge.2  Just  beyond  Peshawur,  he  crossed  the 
Indus,  close  to  its  junction  with  the  Kabul  River;  then, 
turning  north-east  into  Cashmere,  he  visited  various  holy 
sites  in  a tract  that  no  European,  till  lately,  has  ever  tra- 
versed— between  Attock  and  Skardo,  under  the  shadow  of 
Dapsang.  In  this  remote  land  both  Brahmins  and  Buddhists 
located  some  of  their  earliest  traditions;  and,  among  the 
thousands  of  topes  that  studded  the  country,  some  were 
already  old  and  ruinous  in  the  time  of  Hiouen-Thsang. 

After  a stay  of  two  years  in  the  Punjaub  and  Cashmere, 
varied  by  a journey  into  Thibet,  the  Master  of  the  Law,  who 
had  refuted  every  Indian  pundit  that  had  ventured  to  dispute 
with  him,  moved  on  to  the  Ganges  Valley3  by  Avay  of 
Canoge.  Here  he  traversed  and  described  the  little  states 
wrhich  then  covered  the  land  of  the  modern  Oude,  Allahabad 
and  Benares,  famous  for  the  scenes  of  Buddha’s  life  and 


1  “ This  pass,  traversed  by  a narrow 

road,  is  bordered  on  the  right  and  left 

by  mountains  of  prodigious  height. 
On  both  sides  is  a rocky  wall  of  an 
iron  colour.  Here  are  set  up  double 


wooden  doors,  strengthened  with  iron 
and  furnished  with  many  bells  ” (pp. 
61-68). 

2 Pages  76,  77. 

3 “ Life,”  pp.  85,  etc. 


508 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


death,1  and  surveyed  with  exhaustive  care  by  the  devout  and 
learned  pilgrim. 

Several  times  he  narrowly  escaped  death  from  roving 
brigands  and  Thugs ; 2 once  he  was  on  the  point  of  being 
offered  as  a sacrifice  by  some  “ pirates,”  who  were,  perhaps, 
scarcely  prepared  for  the  contemptuous  indifference  of  a 
Buddhist  saint.  With  angry  cries  and  gestures  they  told 
him  of  their  purpose.  “ If  this  vile  body,”  exclaimed  the 
pilgrim,  “ can  give  you  any  satisfaction,  it  is  yours.”  He 
advanced  to  the  altar  with  the  utmost  calmness,  ready,  as  he 
said,  to  enter  Nirvana  with  an  untroubled  soul.  Suddenly 
a furious  wind  raised  the  river  in  flood,  broke  down  the  trees, 
and  whirled  the  dust  around.  The  pirates  fell  on  their  faces 
in  terror  at  the  evident  wrath  of  heaven.  Hiouen-Thsang 
was  saved.3  But  in  death  or  deliverance  his  composure  was 
the  same.  “ How  could  men  dare,”  he  exclaimed,  “ for  the 
sake  of  a passing  satisfaction  to  their  miserable  bodies,  which 
pass  away  in  a moment  like  the  brightness  of  the  dawn,  to 
bring  upon  themselves  the  tortures  of  an  infinite  cycle  of 
ages?”  The  pirates  with  humble  contrition  received  his 
instructions,  accepted  his  blessing,  and  saw  in  the  calming 
of  the  tempest  proof  of  the  Divine  mission  of  their  teacher. 

In  the  face  of  simple  robbery  and  ill  usage,  the  “ Master  ” 
preserved  an  equally  unruffled  countenance.  He  seemed 
even  to  rejoice.  With  beaming  face  he  asked  his  con^anions 
why  they  should  be  troubled  at  the  loss  of  their  paltry 
goods.  Was  “not  the  life  more  than  the  meat,  and  the 
body  than  the  raiment  ? ” 


1  He  especially  deals,  like  Fa- 

Hien  with  Prayaga  (our  Allahabad) 
and  with  Magadha,  our  Behar,  south 
of  the  Ganges,  near  Patna.  Near 

here  was  the  Palibothra  of  the 
Greeks,  the  capital  of  Sandracottus 


(Chaudragupta). 

2 Kg.  “Life,”  pp.  97-100,  116-19. 
I-tsing,  a little  later,  suffered  from 
the  same  scourge  in  his  Indian 
travels. 

3 “Life,”  pp.  116-119. 


VII.] 


HIOUEN-THSANG  IN  SOUTHERN  INDIA. 


509 


After  visiting  divers  places  on  the  lower  Ganges  Valley — 
Champa1  in  the  north-west  corner  of  modern  Bengal; 
Burdwan,  near  the  present  Calcutta ; and  Tamlook 2 at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  (where  Fa-Hien  in  his  day  took  ship  for 
Ceylon) — Hiouen-Thsang  made  his  way  into  Southern  India, 
crossing  the  Godavery,  and  apparently  reaching  as  far  as 
Madras  and  the  Bala  River  in  the  centre  of  the  Carnatic,  as 
if  intending,  like  his  predecessor,  a journey  to  Adam’s  Peak. 
Yet  he  did  not  visit  Ceylon  in  person,  though  he  describes 
it,  and  relates  the  lion-stories  of  the  Cinghalese  race,  and 
various  tales  of  the  priceless  jewels  of  the  island.  Fearless 
of  earthly  danger,  the  pilgrim  may  have  shrunk  from  any 
voyage,  however  short,  on  the  treacherous  and  uncertain 
element,  which,  as  men  knew  well,  was  governed  only  by  the 
demons.3  Perhaps  he  would  not  risk  his  life  for  any  such 
impious  folly,  even  though  it  were  to  see  the  sacred  jewel 
that  flashed  upon  the  top  of  the  Buddha  Tooth-Temple 4 of 
Ceylon,  “visible  for  two  hundred  leagues  on  a cloudless 
night,  like  a planet  in  mid  air.”  5 

Denying  himself  the  spectacle  of  this  wonder,  like  that 
of  the  dwarfs  to  be  seen  in  the  Southern  Ocean,  “ with  men’s 


1 Kadjinga. 

2 Tamralipti.  It  has  been  noticed 
how  Tamlook,  though  well  known  to 
the  Chinese  travellers,  seems  to  have 
been  entirely  unvisited  by  the  Arabs, 
who  were  singularly  long  in  reaching 
many  districts  of  Central  and  Eas- 
tern Hindostan. 

3 Page  183.  See  Tennent’s  “ Cey- 
lon,’5 i.  543,  544. 

4 This  famous  gem,  variously  de- 
scribed as  a diamond,  a pearl,  an 

amethyst,  a ruby,  and  a jacinth  or 
“ hyacinth,”  is  noticed  by  Fa-Hien, 
by  Marco  Polo,  by  Cosmas  the  Indian 


traveller,  and  by  several  of  the  Arab 
geographers — “ the  very  finest  ruby,” 
says  Polo,“  that  was  ever  seen,  as  long 
as  one’s  hand  and  as  thick  as  a man’s 
arm,  without  spot,  shining  like  a fire, 
not  to  be  bought  for  money.  Kublai 
Khan  offered  the  value  of  a city  for 
it,  but  the  King  (of  Ceylon)  answered 
he  would  not  give  it  for  the  treasure 
of  the  world.”  Possibly  the  “ Car- 
buncle ” purchased  in  Ceylon  for  tbe 
Chinese  emperor  early  in  the  four- 
teenth century  may  have  been  the 
same  jewel. 

5  Page  184. 


510 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Oh. 


bodies  and  bird’s  beaks,  who  lived  on  the  fruit  of  cocoa- 
trees,”  1 Hiouen-Thsang  now  struck  off  to  the  north-west 
till  he  arrived  at  the  Malabar  coast.  Thence  he  made  his 
way  to  Baroche  in  Guzerat  (the  Barygaza  of  the  early 
Mediterranean  traders),2  and  so  to  Scinde,  the  Indus,  and 
Moultan,  where  he  completed  his  circuit  of  Indian  kingdoms, 
and  found  himself  again  in  the  Punjaub,  with  “ Persia  to  the 
north-west.”  In  a confused  way  he  repeats,  at  this  point, 
the  time-honoured  story  of  the  Island  of  Women ; which  he 
seems  to  place  off  the  south-west  of  Persia,  and  makes  a 
dependency  of  the  Kingdom  of  “ Fo-lin,”  or  the  Byzantine 
Empire.3 

His  reverence  for  the  sanctity  of  Buddha’s  native  country 
drew  him  back  to  the  Upper  Ganges,  where  he  presided 
at  a great  Council,  refuted  the  errors  of  the  Brahmins,  and 
exposed  the  folly  of  the  local  saints,  of  men  “ who  rubbed 
themselves  with  cinders  till  they  looked  like  a cat  in  the 
chimney,  or  ate  tainted  and  rotten  meat  as  if  they  were  pigs 
feeding  upon  garbage,  and  yet  for  such  acts,  the  crown  of 
madness,  were  considered  holy.”  4 There  was  not  much  love 
lost  now  between  the  old  religion  with  its  caste  system  and 
the  new  with  its  levelling  doctrines,  and  the  Brahmin 
reaction  against  the  faith  which,  at  the  opening  of  the  fifth 
century  (when  Fa-Hien  travelled  to  India),  seemed  in  a fair 
way  to  universal  victory,  was  now  gathering  all  its  strength 
for  the  counter  revolution.  Within  two  hundred  years 5 of 
Hiouen-Thsang’s  departure,  a follower  of  his  might  have 
sought  in  vain  within  the  Peninsula  for  the  hospitable  con- 
vents, the  applauding  crowds,  the  generous  monarchs  who 
were  still  found  to  welcome  the  Master  of  the  Law. 


1 Page  201. 

2 As  in  the  Periplus  of  the  Eryth- 

rean  Sea. 


3 See  “ Life,”  p.  208  (Jul.). 

4 Pages  217-225. 

5 Circ.  a.d.  640  to  840. 


VII.] 


HIOUEN-THSANG  IN  CENTRAL  INDIA. 


511 


With  perhaps  ominous  bitterness,  the  pilgrim  rejects  1 
the  common  tradition  of  the  sanctity  and  healing  virtues  of 
the  Ganges,  as  a fable  invented  by  the  “ heretics ; ” and  with 
something  of  the  same  spirit,  he  answers  the  Indian 
Buddhists,  who  would  fain  have  had  him  settle  among  them 
and  forget  his  old  home  in  the  “ Border  Land.”  China  was 
no  outer  country  of  barbarians,  he  replied,  but  a land  of 
grave  magistrates  and  law-abiding  people,  of  virtuous  princes 
and  loyal  subjects,  of  loving  fathers  and  dutiful  sons,  of  men 
who  paid  a due  respect  to  age  and  wisdom.  There,  too,  all 
the  depths  of  science  had  been  explored ; there  the  move- 
ments of  sun,  moon,  and  planets  were  truly  calculated ; there 
all  kinds  of  instruments  had  been  invented,  the  seasons  of 
the  year  divided,  and  the  properties  of  the  six  tones  of  music 
ascertained.  Nowhere  had  the  Law  of  Buddha  more  faithful 
followers.2 

We  may  gather,  from  some  other  incidents  recorded  on 
this  second  Ganges  journey,  how  strong  was  now  the  rivalry 
between  the  orthodox  of  the  two  camps.  At  the  Buddhist 
Council3  above  referred  to,  where  Hiouen-Thsang  complains 
of  the  presence  of  no  fewer  than  two  thousand  Brahmins  and 
“ naked  heretics,”  or  fakirs,  the  civil  power  had  to  enforce 
agreement  by  a proclamation,  which  assigned  loss  of  the 
tongue  to  any  backbiter,  and  loss  of  life  to  all  who  should 
assault  the  “ Master  of  the  Law.”  Again,  we  have  a curious 
history  4 of  how  the  Buddhist  doctrine  had  been  restored  in 
Cashmere.5  The  heretic  king  had  been  killed  on  his  throne, 
and  the  impious  race  of  the  apostates  had  been  rooted  out. 
So  true  is  it  that  Buddhism  has  never  been  propagated  by  force. 


1 “ Life,”  page  105. 

2 Pages  230,  231. 

3 This  was  held,  under  the  patron- 

age of  King  Siladitya  of  Prayaga,  at 

Kanya  Koubdja,  in  Magadha  (see 


“ Life,”  pp.  235,  243,  etc.). 

4 Pages  248,  249. 

5 By  a prince  ruling  in  the  Upper 
Oxus  Valley  (in  Tokharistan). 


512 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


And  now  Hiouen-Thsang  set  out  on  his  return.  Unlike 
Fa-Hien,  lie  declined  the  most  tempting  offers  for  the  ocean 
transit,  and  declared  that  nothing  should  hinder  him  from 
revisiting  his  old  friends  in  Central  Asia.  Refusing  all  the 
presents  offered  him  on  his  departure  except  a garment  of 
fine  wool  and  a rich  spoil  of  sacred  books  and  images,1  he 
journeyed  from  Oude  to  Attock  without  mischance — for 
though  woods  and  hills  alike  swarmed  with  brigands,  they 
did  him  no  harm.  But  in  the  passage  of  the  Indus  some 
fifty  of  his  precious  manuscripts  were  lost,  through  a sudden 
gust  of  wind  in  mid-channel.  This,  of  course,  was  due,  as 
the  pilgrim  learnt  afterwards,  to  Divine  wrath.  He  was 
trying  to  leave  India  with  some  native  flowers  and  fruits  ; 2 
and  no  one  had  ever  yet  attempted  such  impiety  without 
loss. 

After  a short  stay  in  Cashmere,  Hiouen-Thsang  plunged 
again  into  the  gorges  of  the  Hindu  Kush — “ a mass  of  dan- 
gerous summits  and  terrible  peaks,  rising  into  forms  the 
most  strange  and  varied — at  one  time  a plateau,  at  another  an 
arrow-like  point ; — the  scene  changed  at  each  step.”  3 After 
more  than  a week’s  steady  climbing,  the  travellers,  appa- 
rently still  accompanied  by  the  elephant  on  whose  back 
Hiouen-Thsang  had  crossed  the  Indus,  stood  upon  the  Roof 
of  the  World.  Here — the  snow  and  ice  all  around  them,  the 
clouds  beneath  them — they  saw  on  every  side  the  stony 
summits  of  the  mountains  stretching  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  “ like  a forest  of  trees  stripped  of  their  foliage.”  So 
high  was  this  land,  and  so  stormy  were  the  winds  that  swept 
it,  that  the  birds  could  not  cross  it  in  their  flight. 

Hiouen-Thsang  was  now 4 on  the  Pamir ; and  no  traveller, 
from  his  day  to  the  present  century,  visited,  or  at  any  rate 


1 Pages  260,  261. 

2 Page  264. 


3 Pages  266,  267. 

4 a.d.  645. 


VII.] 


HIOUEN-THSANG  AT  SOURCE  OF  OXUS. 


513 


described,  Lake  Syrikul,  the  true  source  of  the  Oxus,  which 
the  Chinese  pilgrim  makes  into  a vast  lake,  “ greater  than 
the  range  of  eyesight,”  and  which  Lieut.  John  Wood,  when 
he  rediscovered  it  in  1830,  reduced  to  the  more  moderate 
dimensions  of  fourteen  miles  by  one,  though  establishing 
more  firmly  than  ever  its  claim  as  the  loftiest  sheet  of  fresh 
water  in  the  world.  The  hideous  ugliness  of  the  Pamir  moun- 
tain tribes ; their  savage  manners,  and  brutal  character ; 1 
the  blue  eyes  which  distinguished  them  from  all  surrounding 
nations,  the  shrines  of  Buddha  that  dotted  their  country, 
were  alike  noticed  by  the  pilgrim,  as  he  struggled  back  on 
his  homeward  route  from  the  Kabul  Valley  to  Khotan  ; 2 and 
in  most  of  what  he  says,  his  record  has  a striking  agreement 
with  modern  accounts  of  Central  Asia.  He  is  not  the  equal 
of  Marco  Polo  as  a discoverer ; but  in  some  places  he  explored 
further,  and  saw  more  clearly  than  the  great  Venetian. 
Thus,  on  his  outward  way,  he  anticipated  the  present-day 
discovery  of  the  depression  which  separates  the  mountain 
masses  of  Pamir  and  Altai ; as  on  his  return  he  lighted  upon 
the  sources  of  the  Oxus. 

Well  might  he  reckon  up  the  difficulties  he  had  sur- 
mounted,— “ the  vast  plains  of  moving  sand,  the  gigantic 
heights  of  snowy  mountains,  the  scarped  rocks  and  iron 
gates  of  passes,  the  impetuous  waves  of  torrents,  lakes,  and 
rivers,” — for  his  seventeen  years  of  travel  had  not  been  with- 
out result.  He  had  done  something  to  revive  the  failing 
energies  of  Western  Buddhism;  he  had  recovered  many 

1 Pages  270,  etc. 

2 We  may  notice  that  Hiouen- 
Thsang’s  homeward  journey  between 
these  points  kept  to  a more  southern 
and  eastern  route  than  his  outward 
way.  The  latter  went  by  Karashar, 

Lake  Lob,  Tengrikhan,  and  Issyk- 

2 L 


Kul  to  Talas  and  Bokhara ; the  former 
crossed  Badakshan  and  the  Pamir  to 
Syrikul,  and  so  to  Kashgar,  Yarkand, 
and  Khotan.  The  last  named,  from 
a legend  of  its  first  king,  was  known, 
he  tells  us,  by  the  title  of  “ Teat  of 
the  


514 


CHINESE  GEOGRAPHY. 


[Ch. 


sacred  texts  ; he  had  exalted  the  honour  of  Chinese  learning. 
What  is  of  more  importance  to  us,  he  had  been  a patient  and 
daring  traveller,  a faithful  observer,  a true  citizen  of  the 
world,  a not  unimportant  member  of  that  noble  band  of 
pioneers  who,  by  their  journeys  and  their  writings,  first 
breached  the  barriers  of  ignorance  and  fear  between  distant 
nations. 

Here  we  must  leave  for  the  present  the  first  part  of  our 
subject.  As  far  as  it  relates  to  Christendom,  this  is  also  the 
most  barren,  unpleasing,  and  apparently  hopeless  of  periods. 
Like  those  Asiatic  rivers,  which,  after  flowing  through  a 
lovely  country  full  of  inhabitants,  finally  lose  themselves  in 
a dreary  marsh  or  sandy  desert,  so  the  expansive  energy, 
the  external  interests,  the  geographical  knowledge  of  the 
Roman  world,  seem  gradually  to  pass,  between  the  fourth 
and  the  tenth  centuries,  from  abounding  life  into  an  almost 
absolute  torpor.  Fragments  of  the  older  learning,  more  and 
more  perversely  misunderstood;  occasional  displays  of  the 
older  spirit  of  enterprise,  more  and  more  spasmodic  and 
ineffective, — these  are  all,  or  nearly  all,  that  remain  to  us  as. 
we  reach  the  darkest  epoch  of  the  Christian  Middle  Ages. 

But  we  have  already  remarked  enough  upon  this  apparent 
down-grade  movement,  and  the  real,  racial  recuperation 
which  underlies  the  more  obvious  stagnation  and  failure  of 
the  time.  We  have  now  to  look  forward  to  brighter  days, 
to  the  evidence  which  later  ages  would  offer  of  the  unrivalled 
strength,  determination,  and  daring  of  the  Christian  peoples. 
Despised,  ignorant,  and  uncouth  as  they  are  on  the  eve  of 
the  crusades,  it  is  only  the  uncouthness  of  an  awkward  boyhood 
that  keeps  them  back  ; their  latent  power  of  mind  and  body 
will  yet,  in  the  long  run,  prove  itself  the  master  of  every 
rival : and  in  the  explorations  of  the  Norsemen,  with  which 


VII.]  THE  OUTLOOK  AT  THE  END  OF  OUR  PERIOD.  515 


our  next  period  begins,  we  are  already  on  the  way  to  the  great 
discoveries,  conquests,  and  colonies  of  modern  Europe.  The 
spread  of  Arab  enterprise  and  the  versatility  of  its  energy 
has  been  indeed  surprising  ; but  it  did  not  possess  the  deep 
and  stern  perseverance  of  the  European : it  was  in  the 
Viking,  in  the  Crusader,  in  the  Christian  navigator  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  that  the  invincible  persist- 
ence of  old  Rome  was  more  truly  born  again  ; and  in  its  old 
age  Europe  would  still  realise  the  hope  of  its  youth,  that 
world-wide  dominion  which  the  Csesars  had  dreamed  of,  aimed 
at,  but  left  unfinished. 

There  was  no  disgrace  to  the  Western  world  in  its  long 
time  of  disorderly  struggling  from  a pagan  into  a Christian 
civilization  or  organized  life ; great  things  were  yet  in  store 
for  it : — 

“ And  it  might  thereupon 
Take  rest  ere  it  be  gone 
Once  more  on  its  adventure  brave  and  new, 

Fearless  and  unperplexed 
When  it  wage  battle  next, 

What  weapons  to  select,  what  armour  to  indue.” 


\ 


■ 


. 


. 


ADDITIONAL  NOTE.— I. 


On  the  Manuscripts  of  the  Principal  Texts. 

[ Those  personally  examined  are  marked  thus  *.] 

Bordeaux  Pilgrim.  (1)  At  Verona,  No.  52  in  the  Chapter  Library, 
probably  of  the  8th  cent.;  the  oldest  text,  but  imperfect;  wanting, 
according  to  Tobler,  all  the  central  part,  from  Caesarea  on  the  way  out,, 
to  Terracina  on  the  way  home.  (2)  At  St.  Gall,  No.  732*  contains  a 
fragment  of  the  Itinerary  under  the  title  “De  Virtutibus  Hierusalem,”' 
wedged  in  between  two  parts  of  a manuscript  of  Theodosius  the  Pilgrim. 
It  omits  all  the  text  descriptive  of  the  journey  to  and  from  Syria.  This 
copy  is  of  a.d.  811,  very  plain,  without  illustration,  rubrication,  marginal 
notes,  or  other  special  features.  It  is  single-columned,  contains  16  lines 
to  the  page,  and  occupies  fols.  104-113  of  the  volume.  (3)  At  Paris, 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  MSS.  Lat.  4808,*  fols.  66-72  bis,  is  a very 
complete  and  valuable  (10th  cent.)  copy  of  the  Bordeaux  Itinerary. 
From  this  Pierre  Pithou  (in  1589)  published  his  Editio  Princeps ; a tran- 
script made  by  him  of  the  MS.  is  now  in  the  Municipal  Library  at  Orleans, 
No.  265.  Here  the  gaps  in  the  St.  Gall  and  Verona  MSS.  are  supplied, 
and  this  copy  is  more  exactly  and  carefully  written  than  either  of  the 
others.  Like  the  copy  at  St.  Gall,  this  is  a perfectly  plain  text.  Mont- 
faucon  found  two  other  MSS.  of  this  Itinerary  in  the  Vatican  (Montf. 
Bibl.  Biblioth.  i.  81,  83),  but  no  one  since  his  day  has  been  able  to 
discover  them. 

Paula,  Peregrinatio.  As  written  by  St.  Jerome,  there  is  naturally  no 
lack  of  manuscript  authority,  in  copies  of  the  latter’s  works ; Tobler  refers 
especially  to  two  MSS.  at  Munich,  in  the  Royal  Library  there.  (1)  No. 
12,104  (Lat.)  of  the  11th  cent.  (2)  No.  14,031  (Lat.)  of  the  same  period. 
The  same  applies  to  the  letter  of  Paula  and  Eustochium  to  Marcella. 

Melania,  Peregrination;  one  MS.  at  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.  Lat.  Nouv.  acq. 
2178*,  fols.  241-257.  Double-columned ; 37  lines ; Spanish  Visigothic 
hand  of  11th  cent.,  very  large  script. 

Eucherius.  On  certain  of  the  Holy  Places  (De  aliquibus  locis  sanctis) 


518 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


two  MSS.  (1)  In  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.  Lat.  13,348*  of  the  8th  cent, 
(fols.  64-69  bis),  with  some  lacunae,  but  fairly  complete  and  very  im- 
portant. A single-columned  text,  plain,  without  special  features,  in  large 
handwriting.  (2)  In  Rome,  Vatican,  636a  of  13th  cent.,  transcribed  by 
Philip  Labb6  in  1657. 

Breviary  of  Jerusalem,  one  MS.  In  the  Ambrosian  Library  at  Milan, 
No.  M 79  Sup.*  Discovered  by  Bethmann,  in  1854,  at  end  of  a MS.  of 
Bede  De  Locis  Sanctis.  It  occupies  fols.  44  to  44  bis  of  the  volume ; and 
is  in  9th  cent.  hand. 

Theodosius,  De  situ  terrae  sanctae,  three  MSS.  (1)  At  St.  Gall, 
No.  732*;  of  a.d.  811;  cut  into  two  portions  by  the  fragment  already 
noticed  of  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  and  occupying  fols.  98-104,  and  113- 
114  bis.  In  character,  size,  etc.,  it  is  identical  with  the  interpolated  MS. 
of  the  B.  P.  (see  above).  Tobler’s  highly  fanciful  reconstruction  of  the 
text  has  more  reference  to  the  next  MSS.  (2)  London,  B.  Mus.  Titus  D. 
iii.,*  fols.  68,  sqq.,  of  13th-14th  cents.  (3)  Louvain  University  Library, 
No.  10  of  16th  cent.,  bound  up  with  the  book  of  Gervase  of  Tilbury,  De 
Otiis  imperialibus,  and  agreeing  very  closely  with  (2),  at  London. 

Antoninus  Martyr,  14  MSS.  (1)  At  St.  Gall,  No.  133*  of  8th-9th 
cents. ; fols.  602-657.  This  is  a MS.  without  title,  initial  letter,  rubri- 
cation, marginal  notation,  or  any  ornamental  features ; but  complete,  and 
the  oldest  existing.  It  is  bound  up  with  a MS.  of  iEthicus  of  Istria,  and 
eight  other  texts;  the  page  is  single-columned,  and  contains  19  lines. 
(2)  At  Berne,  Municipal  Library,  No.  582*  (fols.  76-96  bis)  of  9th-10th 
cents.  A MS.  like  that  just  noticed  in  its  lack  of  ornament,  etc.,  but 
wanting  some  chapters,  e.g.  fols.  76,  85,  89,  90,  91,  94,  are  a good  deal 
damaged.  It  is  bound  up  with  the  famous  Berne  MS.  of  Arculf,  is  written 
in  same  hand,  and  contains  same  amount  to  the  page  (19  lines).  Tobler’s 
collation  is  imperfect.  (3)  At  Brussels,  Biblioth.  Publique,  No.  2922  of 
the  9th  cent.  (4)  At  Paris,  Biblio.  Nat.,  No.  12,277*  (Lat.),  an  excellent 
MS.  of  the  llth-12th  cents.,  once  belonging  to  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  and 
bound  up  with  Bede  De  Locis  Sanctis.  The  Antonine  MS.  occupies  fols. 
44-52.  (5)  At  Munich,  Royal  Library,  No.  19,149  of  10th  cent.,  con- 
taining only  cc.  38-43  of  the  Soc.  de  L’Orient  Lat.’s  text.  (6)  At  Paris, 
Bibl.  Nat.  Lat.,  No.  2335*  of  12th  cent.,  fols.  21-26,  unornamented  MS. 
much  abbreviated;  single-columned,  46  lines  to  page;  few  marginal 
notes,  no  rubrication  except  at  initial  heading.  (7)  At  London,  B.  Mus. 
Add.,  15,219*  of  12th  cent.,  fols.  3-11,  single-columned,  29  lines; 
difficult  script,  much  abbreviated.  No  special  features.  (8)  At  Rome 
(Vatican),  636a  of  13th  cent.  (9)  At  Vienna,  Biblioth.  Caesar.  Palat.,  2432 
of  12th-13th  cents.  Much  abridged.  (10)  At  Perigord,  Episcopal 
Library,  of  12th-13th  cents.  [“Olim  Caduinensis  ”].  (11)  At  Paris,  Bibl. 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


519 


Nat.,  4847*  (Lat.)  of  14th  cent.,  fols.  1-7,  single-columned.  No  special 
features.  [“  Olim  Colbertinus.’1]  (12)  At  Piacenza,  Archiv.  S.  Anton., 
c.  a.d.  1360.  (13)  Ibid.,  Bibl.  Commun.  Palastrelli,  No.  139  of  16th  cent. 
(14)  At  Berlin,  No.  32  (Lat.)  of  15th  cent. 

Arculf,  thirteen  MSS.  (1)  At  London,  B.  Mus.,  Cotton,  Tiberius 
D.  v.*  of  8th-9th  cents.  Fols.  78  bis-93  bis.  Double-columned. 
38  lines  to  page.  End  much  damaged  by  fire.  Does  not  contain  the 
plans.  This  MS.  has  not  been  adequately  collated  for  the  text  of  Tobler 
and  Molinier  (Soc.  de  L’Or.  Lat.).  (2)  At  Brussels,  2921  of  9th  cent., 
without  the  plans.  (3)  At  Berne,  582*  of  9th  cent.  Contains  the  plans,  at 
fols.  8,  17,  21,  29  (in  red).  Whole  MS.  on  fols.  1-48;  19  lines.  Well 
collated  by  T.  M.  (4)  At  Paris,  B.  N.  13,048*  (Lat.)  of  9th  cent. 
Contains  the  plans.  (5)  At  Laon,  Bibl.  Municip.,  92  of  9th  cent.,  a 
fragment.  (6)  At  Vienna,  Lat.  458  of  10th  cent.  (7)  At  Munich,  Royal 
Libr.,  Lat.  19,150  of  10th  cent.,  a fragment,  but  with  plans.  (8)  At  Paris, 
B.  N.  12,943,*  of  11th  cent.  Double-columned:  41  lines;  fols.  90-97  [is 
wrongly  catalogued  as  MS.  of  Bede,  De  Locis  Sanctis] ; without  the 
plans.  (9)  At  St.  Gall,  320*  of  12th  cent.,  without  the  plans,  folios  254- 
284.  Single-columned,  34  lines.  No  special  features.  (10)  At  Cadouin, 
Abbey  Libr.,  (Perigord  diocese)  of  12th  cent.,  with  plans.  (11)  At  Rome, 
Vatican,  636a,  of  13th  cent.  (12)  At  Vienna,  Bibl.  Cses.  Palat.  Lat., 
609  of  13th  cent.,  with  plans.  (13)  At  Rome,  Regin.,  618  of  15th  cent. 

Bede  (De  Locis  Sanctis) : six  chief  MSS.  (1)  At  Munich,  Roy.  Libr., 
6,489  of  9th  cent.  (2)  At  Brussels,  Libr.  of  Duke  of  Burgundy,  8,658  of 
9th  cent.  (3)  At  Wurzburg,  Univ.  Libr.,  MS.  Th.,  f.  74,  etc.,  of  9th  cent. 
(4)  At  Laon,  Bibl.  Municip.,  92  of  9th  cent.  (5)  At  Milan,  Ambros.  Libr. 
M.,  79  sup.*  of  10th  cent.,  fols.  38  bis-44.  Some  of  Arculf’s  plans  (of 
holy  places  in  Sion)  on  fol.  40.  Double-columned,  41  lines.  (6)  Paris,  B.  N. 
2,321*  (Lat.)  of  10th  cent.  Fols.  135-151.  Contains  plans  of  Arculf.  Also, 
among  perhaps  100  other  MSS.  of  this  popular  text,  are  to  be  noticed  : — 
(7)  At  Paris,  B.  N.  Lat.  14,797*  of  12tli  cent.  (8)  At  London,  B.  Mus. 
Add.,  15,219*  of  12th  cent.  Fols.  12-19;  single-columned;  29  lines. 
Sketch  of  Cenaculum.  (9)  At  Cambridge,  Caius  College  MSS.,  No.  225*, 
fols.  171-173,  single-columned,  35  lines.  (10)  At  London,  B.  Mus.,  Faustina 
A.  vii.*  of  12th-13th  cents.,  fols.  156-162  bis.  Double-columned,  27  lines, 
no  plans.  (11)  At  Oxford,  Lincoln  Coll.  96*,  of  13th  cent.  (12)  At  Dublin, 
Trin.  Coll.  E.,  62  of  13th  cent.  (13)  At  London,  B.  Mus.  Add.,  22,635*, 
double-columned,  65  lines,  fols.  44-46  bis.  With  plans  on  fols.  44,  44  bis, 
45,  45  bis,  presenting  some  peculiarities.  (14)  At  Paris,  B.  N.  12,277*  of 
15th  cent.  fols.  52-58  bis.  To  these  we  must  add  a Bede  MS.  of  8th-9th 
cents,  at  London  B.  Mus.,  Cotton,  Faustina  B.  i.,*  fols.  196-203  bis.  Single- 
columned,  28  lines.  On  fol.  197  a sketch  in  green  of  Holy  Sepulchre. 


520 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


Willibald,  six  MSS.  (Hodoeporicon).  (1)  At  Munich,  Royal  Libr. 
Lat.,  6,890  of  8th— 9th  cents.  (2)  In  same  Libr.  4,535  of9th-llth  cents, 
(fragment).  (3)  At  Rome,  Vallicellan.,  C.  73,  of  11th  cent,  (fragment). 
(4)  At  Munich,  Royal  Libr.  Lat.,  14,396  of  12th  cent.  (5)  At  Carlsruhe, 
Grand  Ducal  Libr.,  84  of  13th  cent,  (the  Codex  Augiensis,  fragmentary). 
(6)  At  Paris,  B.  N.  Lat.,  9744*  of  15th  cent.,  fols.  1-10.  A MS.  of 
Willibald’s  Itinerary  (Codex  Oxenhusianus)  was  edited  by  Canisius  in 
Lect.  Antiq.  iv.,  705-718. 

Commemoratorium  de  Casis  Dei,  etc.;  one  MS.  at  Basel,  University 
Libr.,  in  vol.  ii.*  of  Bruchstucke  von  Handschriften,  pp.  12-13.  This  is  of 
9th-10th  cents.,  much  damaged  at  beginning  and  end. 

Bernard  (the  Wise).  Four  MSS.  (3  surviving).  (1)  At  London,  B. 
Mus.,  Cotton  Faustina  B.  i.*  Single-columned,  28  lines,  fols.  192-196  of 
8th-9th  cents,  like  the  Bede  that  follows  it,  with  which  it  has  been 
repeatedly  confused.  A MS.  of  primary  value,  not  sufficiently  collated,  and 
wrongly  ascribed  to  13th  cent.,  by  Tobler  and  Molinier.  (2)  At  Oxford, 
Lincoln  Coll.,  96  * of  13th  cent.  (3)  At  Vienna,  Bibl.  Caes.  Palat.,  2,432  of 
14th  cent.  (4)  At  Rheims,  once  seen  by  Mabillon  in  Monast.  Libr.,  and  said 
to  contain  correct  date,  unlike  (1)  and  (2),  now  lost  (in  French  Revol.  ?). 

Descriptio  Parrochise  Hierusalem,  six  MSS.  (1)  At  Rome,  Regin. 
196  of  12th  cent.  (2)  At  Brussels,  Libr.  Duke  of  Burgundy,  9,827  of  12th 
cent.  (3)  At  Paris,  B.  N.  Lat.,  5129*  of  12th  cent.  Double-columned 
(afterwards  3 and  4 columns),  fols.  56-67  [54-71,  “Descriptio  Locorum 
circa  Hierusalem  ”].  (4)  At  Rheims,  City  Libr.,  821  of  12th  cent.  (5)  At 
Douay,  Public  Libr.,  838  of  12th  cent.,  fols.  49,  50  in  close  agreement  with 
(1)  and  (4) ; (6)  At  Paris  B.  N.  Lat.,  6,189,*  fragment,  of  13th  cent,  (of  c. 
a.d.  1270),  seems  to  agree  mainly  with  (1).  A 7th  MS.,  at  Brussels,  of 
17th  cent.,  in  Libr.  of  Duke  of  Burgundy,  was  probably  based  on  a lost 
12th  cent.  one. 

Notitia  Antiochise  ac  Hierosolymae  Patriarchatuum,  5 MSS. 
(1)  At  Paris,  B.  N.  Lat.,  17,801,*  close  of  12th  cent.,  double-columned,  37 
lines,  fols.  271,  272,  embedded  in  a MS.  of  William  of  Tyre.  (2)  At  Rome, 
Regin.,  690  of  13th  cent.  (3)  At  Rome,  Vatican,  2002  of  13th-14th 
cents.  (4)  At  Cambridge,  C.C.C.  Lib.,  Lat.  95  of  14th  cent.  (5)  At  Dol, 
College  of  St.  Jerome,  now  lost. 

Qualiter  Sita  est  Civitas  Hierusalem,  one  MS.  In  Library  of  the 
Arsenal  at  Paris,  No.  1161  of  early  12th  cent. 

Solinus,  153  MSS.  (i.)  Arras,  No.  870  of  13th  cent.;  (ii.)  Autun. 
No.  39  of  11th  cent. ; (iii.)  Basle,  No.  F.  ii.  33  * of  14th  cent. ; (iv.)  Berne 
No.  170*,  of  12th  cent. ; (v.,  vi.)  Bonn,  Univ.,  73  and  2543,  both  of  15th  cent.; 
(vii.,  viii.,  ix.,  x.)  Brussels,  Nos.  10,066  of  12th  cent.,  10,862  of  13th  cent., 
17,881  of  15th  cent.,  18,679  of  14th  cent. ; (xi.,  xii.,  xiii.)  Cambridge,  Univ. 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


521 


Libr.,  Nos.  *DD.  xi.  79  of  12th  cent.,  *KK.  ii.  22  of  14th  cent. ; *Mm.  ii.  18 
of  14th  cent. ; (xiv.)  Darmstadt,  No.  737  of  13th  cent. ; (xv.)  Dresden  J.n.  43 
of  13th  cent.,  with  a spurious  preface ; (xvi.)  Engelberg,  n.  I.,  4,  15  of  10th 
cent.  Two  leaves  wanting.  Preface  and  conclusion  the  same  as  in  the  St. 
Gall  MS.  (xvii.-xxiii.)  Florence;  Laurentian.  Plut.  29  Cod.  35  of  15th 
cent. ; Laurentian.  Plut.  66  Cod.  19  of  14th  cent. ; Laurentian  S.  Crucis 
Plut.  20  Sin.  Cod.  2 of  llth-12th  cents. ; Laurentian.  Conv.  Soppr.  n.  56  of 
15th  cent. ; Laurentian  Conv.  Soppr.  n.  359  of  15th  cent. ; Laurentian  S. 
Mark.  n.  209  of  11th  cent. ; Laurentian  Ashburnham  n.  1030  of  11th 
cent.;  (xxiv.)  Frankfort.  Westermann  MS.,  now  in  Library  of  the 
Gymnasium,  of  12th  cent.,  a MS.  “ sui  generis;”  (xxv.)  Heidelberg 
Palatine,  No.  1568  of  11th  cent,  [and  another  of  13th  cent.]  ; (xxvi.,  xxvii.) 
Copenhagen,  Nos.  443, 444  of  14th  and  11th  cents. ; (xxviii.-xxxvii.)  Leyden, 
Publ.  13  of  14th  cent.,  Publ.  67  C.  of  15th  cent.,  Publ.  68  of  13th  cent., 
Publ.  113  of  11th  cent.,  Publ.  124  of  13th  cent.,  Publ.  130a  of  1432,  Yoss. 
Q.  11  of  15th  cent.,  Voss.  Q.  29  of  10th  cent.,  Yoss.  Q.  56  of  12th  cent., 
Voss.  Q.  87  of  9 th  cent,  (xxxviii.-lviii.)  London,  viz. : — B.  Mus.,  * Arundel 
5 of  15th  cent. ; *Burney  No.  213  of  15th  cent. ; *Burney  No.  256  of  12th 
cent. ; *Cotton  Yesp.  B.  xxv.  of  12th  cent. ; *Cotton  Cleop.  D.  1 of  12th 
cent. ; *Harleian,  2569  of  15th  cent. ; *Harleian,  2583  of  16th  cent. ; 
*Harl.  2584  of  14th  cent. ; *Harl.  2604  of  15th  cent.;  *Harl.  2,645  of 
13th  cent. ; *Harl.  3859  of  12th  cent. ; *Harl.  5373  of  13th  cent. ; *B. 
Mus.  Regius  13  C.  vi.  of  14th  cent. ; *Regius  15  A.  xxii.  of  12th  cent.  ; 
*Regius  15  A.  xxxii.  of  12th-13th  cents. ; * Regius  15  B.  ii.  of  12th-13th 
cents. ; *Regius  15  B.  xi.  of  12th-13th  cents. ; *Additional  12,014  of  15th 
cent. ; Add.  17,409*  of  a.d.  1416  ; *Add.  18,315  of  13th  cent. ; *Add.  30,898 
of  13th  cent. ; also  a MS.  of  15th  cent,  in  poss.  of  Quaritch.  (lix.-lxiv.) 
Milanese  MSS.,  viz. : — Ambros.  A.  226  inf.  of  cent.  14th  ; Ambr.  C.  99 
inf.  of  10th  cent. ; *Ambr.  C.  246  inf.  of  13th  cent.,  profusely  illustrated ; 
Ambros.  D.  36  inf.  of  15th  cent. ; Ambr.  E.  151  sup.  of  14th  cent.;  *Ambr.  I. 
118  sup.  of  a.d.  1469.  (lxv.)  Montecassino  MS.,  viz. : — No.  391  of  11th  cent.; 
(Ixvi.-lxviii.)  Montpellier  MSS.,  viz. : — No.  121  of  12th  cent. ; No.  131  of 
12th  cent. ; No.  132  of  12th  cent. ; (lxix.-lxxvi.)  Munich  MSS.,  viz. : — No. 
327  of  15th  cent. ; No.  4611  of  12th  cent. ; No.  5339  of  15th  cent. ; No. 
6384  of  10th  cent. ; No.  14,632  of  12th  cent. ; No.  17,207  of  12th  cent. ; 
No.  17,208  of  10th  (?)  cent. ; No.  23,746  of  10th  cent. ; (Ixxvii.-lxxx.) 
Naples  MSS.,  viz. : — No.  iv.  D.  16  of  1472 ; iv.  D.  17  of  15th  cent. ; iv.  D. 
18  of  16th  cent. ; iv.  D.  19  of  14th  cent,  (lxxxi.-lxxxvii.)  Oxford  MSS., 
viz. : — Bodleian  *Canon.  Lat.  147,  of  1377 ; *Bodl.  Canon.  Lat.  161,  of  1457; 
*Bodl.  Laud.  Lat.  4,  of  1406  ; *Bodl.  Rawlin.  Auct.  F.  iii.  7 of  12th  cent. ; 
*Bodl.  Rawl.  Auct.  G.  45  of  12th  cent. ; Magd.  Coll.,  No.  50  of  11th  cent. ; 
All  Souls  Coll.,  97*  of  early  14th  cent,  (lxxxviii.-cxvii.)  Paris  MSS.,  viz.  * 


522 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


B.N.  Lat.*  1702,  of  1396,  written  at  Toledo ; Ibid.  *Lat.  4873  of  12tli-13th 
cent. ; *Lat.  5719  of  14th  cent. ; *Lat.  6810  of  10th  cent.  Y.  important  and 
basis  of  Salmasius’  edition;  *Lat.  6811,  of  13th  cent. ; L[at].  *6812,  ’3,* 
’4,*  ’5,*  ’6,*  ’7*  of  12th,  13th,  14th,  15th  cents. ; *L.  6831  of  10th  cent. 
*L.  6832,  ’3,*  ’4,*  ’5,*  ’6,*  of  12th,  13th,  15th  cents. ; *L.  6843  of 
15th  cent,  (end) ; L.  *7,230  of  10th  cent.,  important,  highly  valued  by 
Salmasius;  L.  *7230  A.  of  10th  cent.;  L.  *7231  of  10th cent. ; *L.  7594 
of  12th  cent.;  L.  11,206  of  15  th  cent. ; *L.  11,382  of  13th  cent.;  L. 
13,698  of  15th  cent. ; *L.  17,543  of  12th  cent. ; *L.  17,569  of  11th  cent.; 
L.  18,245  of  15th  cent. ; L.  18,246  of  a.d.  1467  written  at  Viterbo ; Maza- 
rine Library,  No.  1526,  written  in  1406.  (cxviii.)  Padua  MS.,  viz.,  Univ., 
No.  1234 ; (cxix.)  Perugia  MS.,  viz.,  No.  32.  (cxx.-cxliv.)  Roman  MSS. 
viz.; — Vatican,  No.  1699  of  14th  cent.;  No.  1860  of  14th  cent.;  No. 
1933  of  15th  cent.;  No.  1934  of  15th  cent.;  No.  3342  of  10th  cent., 
important;  No.  3343  of  10th  cent.,  important;  No.  7646  of  15th 
cent.;  Ottobon,  No.  1140  of  1444;  Ottobon,  1387  of  14th  cent.;  Ott., 
1952  of  15th  cent.;  Ott.,  2072  of  14th  cent.;  Palatine,  876  of  14th 
cent.;  Pal.,  1357  of  13th  cent. ; Pal.,  1569  of  16th  cent. ; Pal.,  1570  of 
15th  cent. ; Regin.,  1478  of  15th  cent. ; Reg.,  1534  of  15th  cent. ; Reg., 
1643  of  13th  cent. ; Reg.,  1658  of  13th-14th  cents. ; Reg.,  1752 ; Reg., 
1875  of  14th  cent. ; Urbinas,  999  of  15th  cent. ; Barberini,  viii.  63  of 
15th  cent,  (before  1494);  “ Casanatensis ” B.  iii.  1 of  15th  cent.;  Libr. 
of  Victor  Emmanuel,  No.  17  of  lOth-llth  cents,  (cxlv.)  Rouen  MS., 
viz. 1421  of  12th  cent.;  (cxlvi.)  St.  Mihiel,  viz.: — 42  of  11th  cent.; 
(cxlvii.)  St.  Gall,  viz.: — 187*  of  10th  cent.,  important;  (cxlviii.-cla) 
Venice  MSS.,  viz. : — Marcian,  Lat.  cl.  x.  No.  29  of  14th  cent. ; Marc.  cl.  x. 
No.  102  of  15th  cent. ; Marc.  cl.  x.  No.  115  of  12th  cent. ; Mare.  Zanet. 
Lat.  389  of  15th  cent,  (cli.— clii.)  Vienna  MSS.,  viz  : — No.  215  (Endl.  Cat. 
ccxlix.)  of  15th  cent. ; No.  3184  (Endl.  Cat.  ccl.)  of  15th  cent. ; 
Wolfenbuttel,  (clii.),  viz. : — Gud.,  No.  163  of  10th  cent. 

Cosmas.  Two  chief  MSS.  (1)  Vatican  of  9th  cent.  (2)  The 
Florentine  MS.,  Laurentian  Libr.  Plut.  ix.,  n.  28  of  10th  cent.,  containing 
all  but  the  last  sheets  of  book  xii.,  on  fols.  279,  with  the  plans  as  given  in 
Montfaucon,  Marinelli,  and  this  volume. 

Ravennese.  Five  MSS.  (1)  At  Rome,  Vatican,  Urbinas,  961  of 
13th  cent.  (2)  At  Paris,  B.  N.,  4794*  (Lat.)  of  13th-14th  cents.  (3)  At 
Basel,  F.  V.,  6*  of  14th-15th  cents.,  fols.  85-108  bis,  single-columned,  31 
lines.  In  this  the  text  of  books,  iii.,  iv.,  v.,  is  fuller  than  in  any  other. 
(4)  At  Leyden,  Voss.  208,  a copy  of  (2).  (5)  At  Munich,  now  lost, 
mentioned  by  Schmeller  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Royal  Library  at  Munich. 

Dicuil.  Seven  chief  MSS.  (1)  At  Paris,  B.  N.,  4806*  (Lat.)  of 
10th  cent.,  fols.  25-40,  single-columned.  This  was  basis  of  Chas.  Athan. 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


523 


Walckenaer’s  edition  of  1807.  (2)  At  Paris,  B.  N.,  Suppl.  Lat.,  671.* 
(3)  At  Dresden,  Regins  D.  182,  of  about  a.d.  1000.  (4)  ‘At  Oxford, 
of  15th  cent.,  among  the  Canonici  MSS.  in  the  Bodleian,  quoted  by 
Parthey  without  further  reference.  (5)  At  Venice,  class  x.  cod.  88 
(97,  2.)  of  15th  cent.  (6)  At  Vienna,  Endlicher  Suppl.  14  of  15th  cent. 
(7)  At  Munich,  Royal  Libr.,  “ Victorianus  ” 99,  of  1436.  No  other  of 
date  earlier  than  1500. 

-ZEthicus.  Among  the  numerous  JEthicus  MSS.  we  may  mention : — 
(1)  At  Paris,  B.  N.,  4871*  of  11th  cent.,  fols.  112,  etc.  (2)  Ibid.,  4808  of 
llth-12th  cents.,  fols.  1-19  bis.  (3)  Ibid.,  8501a  of  13th  cent.  (4)  Ibid., 
7561,  fragment,  of  11th  cent.  (5)  At  London,  B.  Mus.,  Cotton,  *Vespasian 
B.  x.  of  8th  cent.,  the  oldest  MS.  (6)  Ibid.,  Harleian,  3859  of  11th- 
12th  cent.  (7)  Ibid.,  MSS.  Reg.  15  B.  ii.  of  12th  cent.  (8)  Ibid.,  Reg. 
15  C.  iv.  of  12th-13th  cents.  (9)  At  Leyden,  Nos.  69,  77  (Voss.  104). 
Three  other  MSS.  at  Rome,  in  Vatican  Libr.,  are  mentioned  by  Mont- 
faucon,  Bibliotheca  Bibliothecarum,  pp.  25  b,  57  c,  88  c. 

Capella.  (1)  At  Bamberg,  M.  L.  V.  16,  8 Jseckii,  n.  391  of  early 
10th  cent.  (2)  At  Carlsruhe,  n.  73  (Reichenau)  of  lOth-llth  cents. 
(3)  At  Darmstadt,  n.  193  of  lOth-llth  cents.  (4)  At  Berne,  n.  56  b.  of 
10th  cent.  A list  of  more  than  twenty  others  is  given  by  Eyssenhardt, 
pref.  to  Capella,  14-28 ; among  which  we  may  especially  mention 
(5),  at  Cambridge,  Libr.  of  C.  C.  C. 

Basil,  Hexaemeron.  (1)  At  Paris,  Regius,  1824.  (2)  Ibid.,  2286, 
from  collection  of  Henry  II.  at  Fontainebleau.  (3)  Ibid.,  2287,  (1)  & (2). 
(5)  Ibid.,  2349.  (6)  Ibid.,  2892.  (7)  Ibid.,  2896.  (8)  Ibid.,  2989. 
(9)  Paris,  Colbertinus,  3069.  (10)  Ibid.,  4721.  (11)  Paris,  Coistiniani, 
229,  very  early  and  valuable  of  9th  cent.  (12)  Ibid.,  235.  The  above 
twelve  were  used  by  the  Benedictine  editors,  and  are  given  after  their 
(now  old-fashioned)  enumeration,  which  is  followed  in  Migne.  There  is 
also  to  be  noticed  in  British  Museum  (13),  Harleian  5576,  and  (14)  Arundel, 
532  of  10th  century. 

Guido.  Five  MSS.  (1)  At  Brussels,  3899-3918  of  13th  cent.  (2)  At 
Florence,  Riccard.  881  of  13th-14th  cents.,  profusely  illustrated.  (3)  At 
Rome,  Vatican,  Sessorian.  286  of  15th  cent.,  from  the  Libr.  of  the  Holy 
Cross  Monastery  at  Jerusalem.  (4)  At  Vienna,  Csesar.  C.  C.  C.  xxxiii., 
Endlicher,  No.  3190  of  15th  cent.  (5)  At  Milan,  Ambros.,  R.  104*  of 
c.  a.d.  1500,  fols.  245-251  bis,  single  columned,  29  lines.  Without  orna- 
ment. Marginal  notes  by  Biraghi,  who  dates  Guido  after  a.d.  954, 
because  of  mention  of  St.  Matthew’s  body  at  Salerno  (translated  in  that 
year). 

Maps.  Of  MSS.  which  contain  maps  noticed  in  this  volume,  we  may 
mention: — (1)  For  Cosmas’  plans,  Florence,  Laurentian  Library,  Plut. 


524 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


ix.,  n.  28.  (2)  For  Albi  map,  No.  29  in  Albi  Library.  (3)  For  Sallust 
map,  Leipsic,  in  fragment  containing  commencement  of  the  Catilina. 

(4)  For  the  9th  cent.  “ climate  ’’-sketches  at  Paris,  B.  N.  (Lat.)  4860. 

(5)  For  the  Strassburg  map,  Strassburg  MSS.  civ.  (15).  (6)  For  the 
Leyden  map,  Leyden  MSS.  (Lat.),  Voss  Q.  29.  (7)  For  the  Ashburnham 
(Beatus)  map,  Ashburnham  MSS.  15.  The  Peutinger  Table  is  in  the 
Imperial  Library  at  Vienna.  No  notice  is  taken  of  the  MSS.  of  Arab 
and  Chinese  geographers  referred  to  in  Supplementary  chapter. 


ADDITIONAL  NOTE.— II. 

On  the  Editions  of  the  Principal  Texts. 

The  principal  edition  of  nearly  all  the  texts  of  pilgrim-travel  herein 
referred  to  is  the  collection  of  Tobler,  Molinier,  and  Kohler,  in  3 vols., 
published  in  the  Geographical  Series  of  the  Societe  de  L’Orient  Latin : 
“Itinera  Hierosolymitana  et  Descriptiones  Terrse  Sanctse,”  etc.,  1877- 
1885.  Yol.  i.,  part  i.,  containing  the  longer  pilgrim-texts  down  to  Arculf 
and  Bede,  is  edited  by  Tobler  alone ; vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  containing  Willibald, 
Bernard,  the  tracts,  De  Situ  Eierusalem , Notitia  . . . Patriarchatuum , 
Descriptio  Parrochice  Hierusalem , etc.,  by  Tobler  and  Molinier ; vol.  ii. 
containing  the  minor  pilgrim  notices,  and  furnishing  a sort  of  geographical 
index  to  the  Acta  Sanctorum , the  writings  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  other 
Latin  Christian  records  of  the  first  six  centuries’  travel  from  the  West  to 
the  Levant,  by  Molinier  and  Kohler.  The  prolegomena  to  the  first 
volume,  originally  printed  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  part,  are  con- 
tributed in  almost  equal  portions  by  Molinier  and  Tobler,  and  are  mainly 
concerned  with  critical  questions. 

Versions  are  sometimes  mentioned  in  the  notes  to  text,  but  we  may 
repeat  notice  here  of : — (1)  The  Palestine  Pilgrims’  Text  Society,  which 
has  furnished  translations  of  all  the  more  important  pilgrim  texts  (Bordeaux 
Pilg.,  1887 ; Silvia,  1891 ; Paula,  and  Paula  and  Eustoch.  to  Marcella, 
1889 ; Eucherius  and  the  Breviary,  1890 ; Theodosius,  1893 ; Anto- 
ninus, 1887 ; Arculf,  1889 ; Willibald,  1891 ; Bernard,  1893,  etc.) ; (2) 
T.  Wright’s  “ Early  Travels  in  Palestine,”  1848,  which  gives  Arculf, 
Willibrand,  and  Bernard,  in  an  English  dress,  with  an  excellent  pre- 
fatory account  of  early  pilgrims  in  general;  and,  among  other  works, 
furnishing  a more  or  less  complete  version  of  some  of  the  pilgrim-records 
and  other  texts  of  Early  Christian  Geography,  (3)  Charton’s  Voyageurs 
Anciens  et  Modernes,  1854-57,  vol.  ii.,  for  Arculf,  Willibald  and  Cosmas, 
as  well  as  Fa-Hien.  Charton’s  notes  on  the  Bibliography  are  espe- 
cially valuable ; (4)  Delpit,  “ Essai  sur  les  Anciens  Pelerinages,”  1870, 
for  all  the  pilgrim-texts  down  to  Arculf,  and  especially  for  last-named ; 
(5)  Heinrich  Hahn,  “ Reise  des  Willibald,”  1856,  for  Willibald ; (6)  F.  Tuch 
and  Gildemeister,  for  Antoninus,  1864  and  1889;  (7)  Arthur  Golding, 


526 


EDITIONS. 


for  Solinns,  1585  ; (8)  Fialon  (Etude),  for  St.  Basil,  1861 ; (9)  Avezac  and 
Lelewel,for  iEthicus,  1854  and  1857.  For  the  bibliography  of  the  pilgrim- 
records,  etc.,  Tobler’s  “ Bibliographia  Geographica  Palsestinse,”  1875,  will 
be  found  especially  serviceable  (much  more  so  than  Rohrricht’s  work  of 
same  name);  and  for  various  points  in  the  early  Christian  literature  of 
geography,  some  use  may  also  be  made  of  collections  such  as  Wright’s 
“ Biographia  Britannica  Literaria,”  1842;  Tanner’s  “Bibliotheca Britannico- 
Hibernica,”  1748-49 ; Ceillier’s  “ Histoire  des  Auteurs  Ecclesiastiques,” 
1752 ; “ Histoire  Litteraire  de  la  France,”  1738 ; Cave’s  “ Scriptores  Eccle- 
siastici,”  1741 ; Michaud’s  “ Biographie  Universelle,”  and  Firmin  Didot’s 
“ Nouvelle  Biographie  Generale ; ” also  of  J.  A.  Fabricius’  “ Bibliotheca 
Mediae  HCtatis  ” and  “ Bibliotheca  Grasca ; ” as  well  as  of  works  more  frequently 
referred  to  in  notes  to  text,  e.g.  Assemani’s  “ Bibliotheca  Orientalis.”  Other 
works  used  will  be  found  sufficiently  quoted  in  the  special  connection 
illustrated  by  them  ; for  the  supplementary  chapter  (No.  vii.),  the  notes  give, 
it  is  hoped,  all  that  will  be  required  in  references  to  literature  of  subject. 

Only  one  important  text  of  pilgrim-travel  has  been  left  unedited  by 
the  Societe  de  L’Orient  Latin — Silvia  of  Aquitaine , edited  by  Gamur- 
rini  (who  discovered  the  tract  in  the  Library  of  Arezzo,  under  his  charge), 
Rome,  1885  and  1888.  On  other  works  illustrating  this  tract,  see  p.  73, 
note  4,  and  add  Geyer,  “ Kritische  Bemerkungen  zu  S.  Silvia.” 

As  to  separate  editions  of  the  various  pilgrim-texts,  we  may  notice, 
before  the  work  of  Tobler,  etc. : — 

a.  Of  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim : (i.)  Pithou’s  of  1589,  from  MS.  Lat- 
4808,  at  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.;  (ii.)  The  Cologne  Edition  of  1600;  (iii.)  The 
Amsterdam  edition  of  1619 ; (iv.)  The  Amsterdam  (Wesseling)  edition 
of  1735,  which  only  uses  the  Paris  MS.;  (v.)  The  Paris  edition  of  1811 
(Chateaubriand)  ; (vi.)  Migne  (Paris,  1844,  tom.  viii.  in  P.  L.  cc.  783-795, 
a reprint  of  Wesseling)  ; (vii.)  Paris  of  1845,  in  the  “ Recueil  des  Itineraires 
Anciens,”  p.  171,  etc. ; (viii.)  Berlin  of  1848,  by  Pinder  and  Parthey,  at 
end  of  Antonine  Itinerary ; (ix.)  Leipsic  of  1854  (Berggren),  at  end  of  a 
Josephus  (fragmentary)  ; (x.)  Paris  of  1864,  “Revue  Archeologique,”  new 
series,  x.,  99-108,  by  Barthelemy,  from  Verona  and  Paris  MSS.  Among 
the  most  valuable  studies  on  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim  is  Aures,  “ Concordance 
des  vases  Apollinaires  et  ITtineraire  de  Bordeaux,”  Nismes,  1868. 

Of  St.  Paula’s  Peregrination  ; five  editions : — (i.)  Roman  edition  of 
1468,  among  works  of  St.  Jerome  (ii.  235) ; (ii.)  Lyons  edition,  by  Erasmus, 
of  1528  (i.  195);  (iii.)  Bollandist  of  1613,  in  A.A.S.S.,  Jan.  ii.,  711; 
(iv.)  Paris  edition  of  1706,  among  works  of  St.  Eusebius,  iv.,  c.  669,  etc. ; 
(v.)  Verona  edition  of  1734,  among  works  of  Jerome,  i.,  c.  684. 

j81.  Of  Paula  and  Eustochium,  similar  editions,  but  Tobler  adds  the 
Venice  edition  of  1766  of  Jerome,  I.,  part.  ii.  p.  203,  etc.,  as  best. 


EDITIONS. 


527 


7.  Of  Eucherius,  one  edition:  Ph.  Labbe’s  Paris  edition  of  1657,  from 
Vatican  MSS.,  636a  [reprinted  by  Ugolini(-us)  in  “ Thesaurus  Antiqui- 
tatum  Sacrarum,”  Venice,  1747]. 

8 Of  the  Breviary  of  Jerusalem,  no  edition,  only  Bethmann’s  notice  of 
1854,  previous  to  the  issue  in  the  Soc.  de  l’Or.  Lat. 

e Of  Theodosius,  one  edition  only,  before,  and  one  after,  Tobler’s : — 
(1)  The  Einsiedeln  edition  of  1756 ; (2)  The  Bonn  edition  of  1882 ; the 
most  valuable  study  on  Theodosius  is  in  the  preface  and  commentary  of 
Gildemeister’s  Bonn  edition. 

£.  Of  Antoninus,  four  editions : — (i.)  The  Angers  edition  of  1640 
(anonymous  edition  using  a MS.  of  Sergius  and  Bacchus,  now  lost) ; (ii.) 
The  Bollandist  of  1680,  May  ii.,  pp.  x.-xviii.,  using  a MS.  then  in  Library  of 
St.  Martin  of  Tours,  which  Tobler  believes  to  be  the  one  now  at  Brussels ; 
(iii.)  Ugolini’s  of  1747 ; (iv.)  Migne’s  of  1849,  Pat.  Lat.,  lxxii.,  898,  etc., 
merely  a reprint  of  the  Bollandist.  Since  Tobler,  Gildemeister  has  edited 
Antoninus  (Berlin,  1889)  with  a valuable  preface  and  German  translation. 

7].  Of  Arculf,  five  editions  : — (i.)  Of  1619,  Ingolstadt,  by  Gretser,  using 
MS.  now  lost;  (ii.)  Mabillon’s  of  1672,  in  A.A.S.S.,  ssec.  iii.pt.  2,  pp.  501- 
522,  from  Vatican,  636a,  and  Corbey  MS.  ; (iii.)  In  Gretser’s  works 
of  1734,  Ratisbon  edition  ; (iv.)  Migne’s  of  1850,  in  P.  L.  Ixxxiii.  c.  779,  etc., 
reprint  of  Mabillon;  (v.)  Delpit’s  of  1870,  in  his  “Essai  sur  les  Anciens 
Pelerinages  a Jerusalem  : ” Delpit  reprints  the  text  of  Mabillon,  with  some 
use  of  the  Berne,  Paris,  and  St.  Gall  MSS. 

6.  Of  Bede,  De  Locis  Sanctis,  six  editions : — (i.)  The  Basle  edition  of 
1563,  of  all  Bede ; (ii.)  The  Cologne  edition  of  1612 ; (iii.)  Gretser’s 
edition  of  1619  (1734),  the  prototype  of  which  was  probably  the  Basle 
edition,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  tendency,  common  to  both,  to  confuse 
Bede’s  abstract  with  Arculf’s  full  relation.  This  tendency  the  editors  of 
the  later  edition  of  1734  laboured  to  correct,  but  inadequately;  (iv.)  The 
Cambridge  edition  of  1726  (pp.  315-324)  [Smith’s]  a very  careless  and 
imperfect  issue,  (v.)  Giles’  of  1843  is  only  a reprint  of  the  Cambridge 
one  of  1726,  as  Giles  himself  confesses  vol.  iv.  part  vii.  In  this  are  many 
typographical  errors ; (vi.)  F.  Michel’s  Paris  edition  of  1839  in  vol.  iv.  (pp. 
794,  etc.)  of  the  Memoires  de  la  Socidte  Geographique.  Michel  only 
employs  the  B.  Mus.  Cotton  MS.  Faustina  B.I.  in  his  edition,  with  certain 
points  (Var.  Lectt.)  added  from  the  MS.  of  Lincoln  College. 

1.  Of  Willibald’s  Hodoeporicon,  four  editions : — (i.)  Canisius  of  1603 
(Lect.  Antiq.iv.  473  ; edit.  Basnage  ii.  99).  This  edition  employs  only  the 
Paris  MS.  Lat.,  9744 ; [Gretser  supplies  various  corrections  to  Canisius  in 
his  work  of  1610;  “Philippi  ecclesise  Eystettensis  episcopi,  de  ejusdem 
ecclesise  divis  tutelaribus  ”] ; (ii.)  The  Acta  SS.  of  Mabillon,  1672, 
reprints  Canisius.  ssec.  iii.  pt.  ii.  pp.  367-383  (iii ) The  Bollandist 


528 


EDITIONS. 


A.A.S.S.  Jul.  ii.  pp.  500-511 ; (iv.)  The  Eichstadt  edition  of  1857,  by 
Suttuez,  canon  and  afterwards  vicar-general  of  that  Churoh.  Of  the 
Itinerarium,  three  editions : — (i.)  Canisius’  of  1603  (Lect.  Antiq.  iv.  pp.  705- 
718;  ed.  Basnage  ii.  i.  117-122) ; (ii.)  Mabillon’s  A.A.S.S.  of  1672,  ssec.  iii. 
pt.  ii.  pp.  383-392 ; (iii.)  Bollandists’  A.A.S.S.  July  ii.  pp.  512-517. 

k.  Of  the  “ Commemoratorium  DeCasis  Dei  ” there  is  only  one  edition 
before  that  of  the  Soc.  de  l’Or.  Latin ; — De  Rossi’s  (based  upon  Basle  MS.) 
of  1865,  in  “ Bolletino  di  Archeologia  Christiana  ” (p.  84,  etc.)  “ not 
sufficiently  accurate,”  but  illustrated  by  an  excellent  commentary. 

A Of  Bernard  (the  Wise),  three  editions  : — (i.)  Mabillon’s  of  1672,  in 
A.A.S.S.,  ssec.  iii.  pt.  ii.  p.  523-526,  from  the  now  lost  Rheims  MS. ; (ii.) 
F.  Michel’s  of  1839,  in  the  “M6moires  de  la  Soci6te  de  Geographie,” 
iv.  784-794.  “ An  almost  valueless  edition,”  based  on  Lincoln  Coll.  MS. 

(iii.)  Migne’s  reprint  of  Mabillon  in  P.  L.  cxxi.  c.  569,  etc.,  1852. 

H.  Of  the  Descriptio  Parrochise  Hierusalem,  one  edition : — By  Antonius 
Schelstrate  at  Rome,  1697,  in  his  De  Antiquitatibus  Ecclesise  ii.,  744,  etc., 
following  the  Roman  MS.  (1)  verbatim. 

v.  Of  the  Notitia  . . . Patriarchatuum,  seven  editions : — (i.)  The  Basle 
edition  of  1549,  by  Poyssenot,  pp.  322-324;  (ii.)  Edition  of  Henry 
Pantaleone,  Basle,  1564;  (iii.)  The  Hanover  edition  of  1611,  in  “Gesta 
Dei  per  Francos”  (i.  1044-1046) [Bongars] ; (iv.)  Migne’s  edition  of  1855 
P.  L.  ccl.  cc.  1065-1067  (and  in“Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Croisades, 
Hist.  Occident.”  i.  1135-1137).  [v.  vi.  vii.  abridged  editions]  : — (v.)  In  the 
Geographia  Sacra  ” of  1641,  pp.  84,  85;  (vi.)  In  the  Amsterdam  reprint  of 
the  above,  1704,  pp.  59-61 ; (vii.)  In  the  imperfect  edition  of  1493  [Rome]. 

A.  Of  the  Qualiter  sita  est  Civitas  Hierusalem,  there  is  no  earlier 
edition  than  that  of  the  Soc.  de  l’Or.  Lat. 

Also,  of  separate  works  in  Geographical  Theory  during  the  Patristic 
period,  we  may  notice  the  following  editions  : — 

o.  Of  Solinus ; six  chief  editions  previous  to  Mommsen’s  (best  and 
last,  1895)  : — (i.)  The  Roman  edition,  without  name  or  date,  but  certainly 
earlier  than  1474;  (ii.)  the  Venetian  edition  of  Nicholas  Jenson,  1473, 
which  specially  relies  upon  the  London  MS.  Arundel  5;  (iii.)  Bologna 
edition  of  1500,  an  amended  reprint  of  the  Venice  edition  of  1473 ; 
(iv.)  the  Florentine  edition  of  1519,  following  the  Roman  Editio  Princeps 
(reprinted  at  Vienna  in  1520?);  (v.)  the  Poictiers  edition  of  1554; 
(vi.)  Salmasius’  Paris  edition  of  1629  (reprinted  at  Treves,  1689). 

nr.  Of  Cosmas: — (i.)  Montfaucon’s  edition  of  1706-7 — in  “Nova  Collectio 
Patrum,”  tom.  ii.,  still  the  standard  edition  ; (ii.)  Bandinius’  edition  of  1762, 
Gr.  Ecc.  Vet.  Mon.,  tom.  iii. ; (iii.)  Gallandius’  edition  of  1765,  in  his  Bibl. 
Vet.  Pp. ; (iv.)  Migne’s  edition  of  1857,  in  Pat.  Gr.  Ixxxviii.,  a reprint  of 
Montfaucon,  but  with  additional  prefatory  matter  from  remarks  of  Fabricius, 
Gallandius,  and  Bandinius. 


EDITIONS. 


529 


p.  Of  the  Ravennese,  two  chief  editions : — (i.)  Porcheron’s  edition  of 
1688  (Paris) ; (ii.)  Pinder  and  Parthey,  Berlin  edition  of  1860  ; [(iii.)  Bou- 
quet’s edition  of  “ Excerpta  ex  Cosmographia  Ravennatis  de  Gallia  ” is, 
of  course,  only  fragmentary — in  the  “ Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules,” 
1738  (tom.  i.).] 

pl.  Of  Guido: — Pinder  and  Parthey’s  Berlin  edition  of  1860  is  the 
only  one. 

s.  Of  Dicuil,  “ De  Mensura  Orbis  terrse  ” three  editions : (i.)  Walcke- 
naer’s  edition  of  1807  (Paris);  (ii.)  Letronne’s  Paris  edition  of  1814, best 
as  to  commentary;  (iii.)  Parthey’s  Berlin  edition  of  1870,  best  as  to  text. 

r.  Of  Capella, “ Nuptials,”  eight  principal  editions  ; among  which  we 
need  only  mention: — (i.)  Vicenza  edition,  by  Henricus  de  St.  Urso,  1499  ; 
(ii.)  Grotius’  (possibly  with  help  of  Jos.  Scaliger)  edition  of  1599 ; 
(iii.)  Kopp’s  Frankfort  edition,  1836 ; (iv.)  Eyssenhardt’s  Leipsic  edition 
(Teubner),  1866. 

rl.  Of  Macrobius,  Commentary  on  the  Dream  of  Scipio,  six  chief 
editions,  among  which  we  need  only  mention : — (i.)  Venice  edition  of  1472, 
Jenson ; (ii.)  Liege  edition  of  Gronovius,  1670  (best) ; (iii.)  Leipsic  edition 
of  1774. 

v.  Of  Orosius  (History),  twelve  chief  editions,  among  which  we  need 
only  mention : — (i.)  The  (first)  edition  of  1471  by  Schiissler ; (ii.)  The 
Mainz  edition  of  1615  [B.  Mus.  copy  of  this  has  autograph  of  Ben 
Jonson]  ; (iii.)  Havercamp’s  edition  of  1738  [with  notes  by  Fabricius] ; 
(iv.)  Gallandius’  edition  of  1765  in  Bibl.  Vet.  PP.  vol.  ix. ; (v.)  Migne’s 
edition  of  1844  in  P.  L.  xxxi. ; (vi.)  Zangemeister’s  Vienna  edition  of  1868 
(Leipsic  : Teubner,  1889). 

ul.  Of  John  Philoponus : On  the  Creation.  The  best  edition  is  by 
Gallandius  in  Bibl.  Vet.  Patrum,  tom.  xii.,  Venice,  1778.  First 
discovered,  published,  and  translated  into  Latin  (1630)  by  Balthasar 
Corderius,  S.J.,  from  the  oldest  MS.  at  Vienna. 

(f>.  Of  Basil,  IJexaemeron,  three  chief  editions.  (1)  At  Basel,  Froben’s 
Press,  for  Janus  Cornarius,  1551 ; (2)  Best  edition  by  Gamier  and  Maran, 
the  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur,  1721,  etc.,  the  basis  of  (3)  Migne’s  text,  in 
Pat.  Grsec.,  1857.  First  edition  in  Latin  by  Volaterranus,  Rome,  1515. 

X Of  AEthicus  of  Istria  best  editions  in  (1)  Avezac’s  “ Ethicus  ” 1852,  (2) 
Wuttke’s  Cosmog.  JEthic.,  1854.  Of  Julius  iEthicus  inRiese,  “ Geographi 
Latini  Minores.” 

if/.  Of  Isidore  : “ Etymologies  or  Origins,”  ten  chief  editions,  among  which 
we  need  only  mention : — (i.)  (First)  Strassburg  edition  of  1470 ; (ii.) 
Migne’s  edition  among  coll,  works  of  Isid.  Pat.  Lat.,  lxxxi.-iv.,  1844. 

to.  Of  Raban  Maur, two  editions: — (i.)  Cologne  edition  (of  Coll.  Works) 
of  1626-27;  (ii.)  Migne’s  edition  of  1844  (Coll.  Works)  P.  L.  cvii.,  etc. 

2 M 


530 


EDITIONS. 


For  bibliography  of  chief  texts  of  Arab  and  Chinese  geography  in  our 
period,  we  have  already  referred  readers  to  notes  in  chap,  vii.,  but  will 

here  collect  principal  items,  viz.,  on  pp.  415,  note  1;  427,  note  1;  436, 

note  1;  438,  note  1;  439,  note  1;  478,  notes  1,  2;  487,  note  2;  491, 

note  1;  492,  note  5;  503,  note  1.  Also  we  may  add  in  this  place  fuller 

reference  to  (1)  Goeje’s  editions  of  Ibn  Khordadbeh  in  vol.  vi.  of  his 
Library  of  Arabic  Geographers,  Leyden,  1889  ; (2)  Friihn’s  Ibn  Fozlan 
(Fudlan)  in  publics,  of  Imp.  Acad,  of  Sciences,  St.  Petersburg,  1823; 
also  Rossler’s  “ Ibn  Fozlans  Reiseberichte,”  St.  Petersburg,  1823  ; (3) 
Ouseley’s  Ibn  Haukal,  London  (1800),  at  Wilson’s  Oriental  Press;  and 
Anderson’s  trans.  of  same  in  Journ.  of  Bengal  Soc.,  vol.  xx.  (1853) ; 
(4)  the  great  French  edition  of  Massoudy’s  “Meadows  of  Gold,”  by 
Barbier  de  Meynard  and  Pa  vet  de  Courteille,  Paris,  1861-1877,  in  9 vols. 
Sprenger  in  1841  only  turned  into  English  (for  Oriental  Translation  Fund) 
the  first  seventeen  chapters,  about  one-sixth  part  of  the  whole. 


ADDITIONAL  NOTE.— III. 


It  may  be  useful  to  refer  here  to  a few  points  unnoticed  or  barely  noticed 
in  the  text.  1.  Ammianus  Marcellinus  (see  p.  365)  has  not  only  been 
“credited  with  earliest  mention  of  Sea  of  Aral,”  but  also  with  a reference 
to  the  Wall  of  China  (xxiii.  6;  cf.  Ptol.  vi.  12).  Neither  suggestion  can 
be  fully  accepted,  (a)  The  “Oxian  lake”  of  Ammianus  Marcellinus  and  of 
Ptolemy  is  described,  not  as  receiving  waters  of  Jaxartes  and  Oxus,  which 
flow  into  Caspian,  but  apparently  as  lying  somewhere  parallel  to  the 
course  of  the  two  great  rivers — ? about  where  the  Kara  Kul  or  Denghiz  is 
now  found.  (£)  The  words  in  Amm.  Marc,  xxiii.  6,  “ Consertse  celsorum 
aggerum  summitates  ambi'unt  Seres,”  must  surely  be  understood  of  moun- 
tains and  nothing  else.  Cf.  Ptolemy,  “ Serica  girdled  round  by  mountains,” 
etc.  (vi.  16),  and  the  context  in  Amm.  Marc.  Also  see  Lassen,  Ind.  Alt. 
ii.  536 ; Reinaud,  “ Relations  de  l’Empire,  etc.,”  p.  192 ; Yule,  “ Cathay,” 
xl.,  xli.,  clviii.,  clix. ; Bunbury,  Anc.  Geog.,  ii.  641,  642. 

2.  In  Annals  of  the  Han  (b.c.  202-a.d.  220),  the  Tsin  (a.d.  265-419), 
and  the  Thang  (a.d.  618-905)  various  notices  of  Ta-thsin,  or  the  Roman 
Orient,  occur.  Western  or  “ Great  China,”  so  called  because  of  likeness  of 
its  people  to  those  of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  i.e.  (?)  in  way  of  being  lords 
of  their  quarter  of  the  earth,  is  also  spoken  of  as  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Western  Sea.  Distant  a voyage  of  three  years  from  India,  it  is  2000  miles 
both  in  length  and  breadth ; its  coinage  is  gold  and  silver,  in  the  relation 
of  10  to  1 — a fairly  good  account  of  the  Byzantine  reckoning  of  twelve 
miliaresia  to  one  nomisma.  The  coral  fisheries  of  the  Mediterranean  (?) 
are  also  described;  the  Western  empire  is  said  to  have  400  great  cities, 
and  abundance  of  gold  and  gems — among  them  some  “ tablets  that  shine 
in  the  dark  ” (cf.  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  on  diamonds  in  Emperor’s  crown 
at  Byzantium).  Tathsin,  “ latterly  called  Fulin,”  possessed  many  other 
wonders,  among  which  the  Chinese  noticed  especially  its  wonderful 
jugglers,  its  pearls  formed  from  the  saliva  of  golden  pheasants,  its  lambs 
that  grew  out  of  the  ground  to  which  they  remained  attached  by  the 


( 532  ) 


umbilical  cord,  and  its  “linen  washed  with  fire”  (asbestos?).  See 
Pauthier,  “ De  P Authenticity  de  l’lnscription  de  Singanfu,”  pp.  34-40,  43, 
47,  55,  etc. ; Klaproth,  “ Tableaux  Historiques  de  l’Asie,”  pp.  67,  68,  70, 
etc. ; Yule,  Cathay,  lv.-lvii. 

3.  Among  notices  of  attempted  intercourse  between  the  Chinese  and 
Mediterranean  worlds,  is  that  of  the  hostile  venture  of  the  great  Han 
general  Pan-chao,  who,  reaching  the  Caspian  about  a.d.  100,  in  102 
despatched  his  lieutenant  Kan-yng  with  orders  to  make  his  way  to  Ta-thsin, 
and,  if  possible,  to  conquer  it.  He  seems  to  have  reached  the  Indian 
Ocean,  but  was  deterred  from  attempting  more,  by  terrifying  reports. 
See  Lassen,  ii.  352,  etc.;  Remusat,  in  Mem.  de  l’Acad.  Inscr.  (new),  viii. 
116-125;  Klaproth,  “Tableaux  Historiques,”  p.  67,  etc.;  Yule, 
“ Cathay,”  lv. 

4.  At  beginning  of  Life  of  Hiouen-Thsang  occurs  an  enumeration  of 
the  world-kingdoms  which  is  well  worth  comparison  with  that  given  by 
lbn  Valiab  (see  pp.  419,  420)  as  from  the  mouth  of  the  “ Chinese  emperor.” 

5.  Massoudy’s  detailed  comparison  of  the  Habitable  Earth  to  a bird 
— whose  head  is  at  Mecca  and  Medina,  while  Africa  forms  its  tail,  Irak 
and  India  its  right  wing,  and  the  land  of  Gog  and  Magog  its  left — has  been 
often  quoted  (as  by  Desborough  Cooley)  as  if  it  represented  Massoudy’s 
geography.  It  is  merely  a poetical  illustration.  See  Marinelli, 
“Erdkunde,”  27. 

6.  The  Notitia  Dignitatum  proved  valueless  for  the  purposes  of  this 
volume.  It  gives,  as  Bunbury  says  (ii.  699),  “ no  geographical,  or  even 
topographical,  information,  except  where  we  could  do  without  it.” 


SHORT  INDEX  OF  NAMES 

(In  Text  only,  with  some  few  references  to  Notes). 


Abderrahman  III.  of  Cordova,  162 
Aboulfaragius  (var.),  221,  434 
Aboulfeda,  7,  398 
Abou  Maschar,  or  Albumazar,  414 
Abrahah,  185 
Abraham,  Bishop,  219 
Adamnan,  131,  132,  134,  136,  137 
Adelard  of  Bath,  403,  405 
Adosinda,  387 
Adventus,  249 
iElian,  345,  450 
JEneas,  253 

iEthicus  i.  of  Istria,  73,  336,  355-361 ; 
ii.  Julius,  42,  46,  73,  320,323,  361- 
363,  364,  365 
Agatha,  St.,  148 
Agathodsemon,  379 
Agilus,  etc.,  122 
Agricola,  225 
Agrippa,  362,  382 
Ailbhe,  232 
Ailly,  Peter  d’,  405 
Albateny,  49,  434 
Albeladory,  425 

Albert  the  Great  (Albertus  Magnus), 
337,  404 

Albyrouny,  396,  412,  425,  456 
Alcuin,  44,  387,  388 
Aldfrith  the  Wise,  131 
Aldjayhany,  434,  435 
Alestakhry,  434,  450,  etc. 

Alexander  the  Great,  178,  258,  310, 
335, 336, 343,  350,  357, 358, 359, 395 
Alexander  Flavianus,  54 
Alexander  Severus,  248 
Alexius,  87 
Alfaraby,  455 
Alfergany,  48,  410 
Alfonso  the  Wise,  404 


Alfred  the  Great,  21,  161,  203 
Aljahedh,  411 
Alkendy,  413,  414 
Alkharizmy,  48,  403,  410 
Almamoun,  48,  409-411,  424,  461 
Almansor,  48,  409 
A1  Radi,  424 

Ambrose  of  Milan,  St.,  329,  336,  383, 
390 

Ammianus  Marcellinus,  365 
Amrou,  162 

Ananias  of  Schirag,  367-370 
Anan-Yeschouah  (Jesus),  217 
Anastasius,  Emperor,  103 
Anastasius,  friend  of  Cosmas,  279, 
300 

Annibalianus  ( = Hannibal),  60 
Ansgar,  37,  224,  241 
Antiochus  and  Seleucus,  342 
Antonines,  63,  180,  363,  381,  409,  472 
Antoninus  the  Elder,  25,  54 
Antoninus,  Martyr,. 31,  32,  95,  107, 
109-121,  142,  167,  194 
Antony,  Mark,  324,  327,  471 
Apollon,  368 

Apollonius  of  Tyana,  60,  358 
Appuleius,  341 
Archimedes,  410 

Arculf,  Bishop,  23.  34,  125-140,  143, 
172,  198,  338 
Argensola,  443 
Aristarchus,  308 
Aristomenes  of  Messina,  447 
Aristotle,  15,  251,  279,  346,  377,  410 
Arthur  of  Britain,  King,  93 
Ashburnham,  380 
Asoka,  483 

Athanasius  of  Alexandria,  St.,  67, 
206,  329 


2 M 3 


534 


INDEX, 


Augustine  of  Hippo,  St.,  41,  229, 
248,  274,  328,  329,  331,  332,  336, 
337,  343,  353 
Augustus,  380,  381 
Aurelian,  Emperor,  183 
Aurilius  and  Arbocrates,  360 
Avieuus,  364 
Avitus  of  Braga,  88,  89 
Avitus  of  Vienne,  94,  331,  360 

Bacchus,  268 

Bacon,  Roger,  229,  356,  404,  405 
Bar-Cochab,  25 
Barinth,  231 
Barsabas,  212 

Basil  the  Great  of  Caesarea,  St.,  276, 
314,  329,  333,  344-350,  368 
Basil  the  Macedonian,  166 
Basil,  missionary,  206 
Basil  of  Novgorod,  334 
Batouta,  Ibn,  7 
Beatus,  18,  45,  380,  387,  388 
Bede,  the  Venerable,  18,  34,  44,  45, 
131,  172,  252,  331,  337,  370-372, 
426 

Behaim,  Martin,  234 
Belisarius,  315 
Benedict  III.,  Pope,  174 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  445,  473 
Bernard  the  Wise,  34,  35,  130,  162, 
164,  166-174,  202,  205,  239 
Berosus,  279 

Berthaldus  of  Chaumont,  106 
Blantasis  and  Cinchris,  314 
Boethius,  154 

Boniface  of  Crediton  and  Mainz,  St., 
141,  143,  155,  372 
Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  26-28,  57-67 
Brandan,  St.,  228,  230-240,  442 
Bretschneider,  500 
Buddha,  484,  499,  506,  509 

Cadocus  of  Beneventum,  98 
Caelius  Antipater,  342 
Caesar,  Julius,  178,  324, 327, 361,  377, 
382 

Caleb,  Kaleb,  or  Elesbaan,  208,  210 

Caligula  (Caius),  342 

Capella,  Martianus,  334,  340-343 

Carus,  Emperor,  472 

Cassiodorus,  362,  365,  390 

Castorius,  305-307,  312,  314,  383 

Cato,  251,  253,  375 

Ceadwalla  of  Wessex,  143 

Charles  the  Bald,  165 

Charles  the  Fat,  157 

Charles  the  Great,  Charlemagne,  18, 


37,  129,  147,  157-159,  160,  167, 
168, 172,  201,  202, 205, 222, 241,  318 
Charles  Martel,  145,  158 
Chasdai,  402 
Childeric  III.,  158 

Cliosroes  I.,  Nushirvan,  186,  336,477 
Cliosroes  II.,  124,  397 
Christ  (known  to  Chinese),  415 
Chrysostom,  John,  St.  86,  153,  274 
Cicero,  M.  T.,  251,  274, 276,  343, 360, 
377 

Claudian,  489 
Claudius,  Emperor,  190 
Clement  at  Cherson,  St.,  101,  104 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  St.,  276 
Clovis,  129,  157,  197 
Columba,  St.,  131,  225-227 
Columban,  37,  227 

Columbus,  1,  6, 182, 231, 234  (Ferd.), 
405 

Constantine  of  Antioch,  368 
Constantine  the  Great,  10,  21,  28,  30, 
64,  177,  183,  384 
Constantius,  Emperor,  207 
Cosmas,  13,  18,  22,  32v.33,  40,  41,  45, 
95,  96,  106,  167,  190-196,  223,  229, 
252,  273-303,  327,  329,  333,  344, 
345,  349,  368,  380,  384,  385 
Crates,  377  " 

Ctesias,  361 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  329 

Cyril  and  Methodius,  24,  37,  39,  241 

Dalmatius  and  Zenophilus,  59 
David,  missionary,  219 
David  of  Wales,  31,  94 
De  Guignes,  496 
Democritus,  254 
Dhu  Nowas,  208 
Diaz,  Bartholomew,  2,  6,  182 
Dicsearchus,  341 

Dicuil,  18,  39,  42,  43,  162,  163,  167, 
227-229,  247,  252,  317-327 
Didymus,  362 
Diocletian,  383 

Diodore  (-orus)  of  Tarsus,  275,  329, 
330,  351-352 

Dionysius  Periegetes  (?  Denis),  320, 
324,  364,  365,  368  (?),  390 
Dizabul,  186,  187,  505 
Doul  Karnain,  407 

Ealdhelm,  252 
Edesius,  206 
Edrisi,  235,  396,  466 
Einhardt,  389 
Eirene,  159 


INDEX. 


585 


Elipaudus,  387 

Elpidius,  etc.,  68 

Emosaid  Family,  463 

Ephorus,  279 

Ephraim,  missionary,  206 

Epiphanius  of  Cyprus,  316,  445 

Eratosthenes,  183,  243,  341,  376-378 

Eric  the  Eed,  503 

Etherius,  387 

Eucherius,  31,  91,  92,  333 

Euclid,  410 

Eudoxia,  91 

Eudoxus,  279,  319,  343 

Eusebius  (var.),  48,  86,  330 

Eustathius,  56 

Eustochium,  29,  71,  81-83 

Eutropia,  57 

Eutychius  of  Alexandria,  338 
Evelyn,  John,  146 

Fabian,  325 
Fabiola,  71,  86 
Fabius,  360 

Fa  Hien,  50,  191,  478-485,  490,  491, 
509-512 

Felix  of  Urgel,  46, 387 
Fidelis,  34,  130,  162-164,  229,  320, 
324,  387 
Floras,  471 

Fozlan,  Ibn,  49,  402,  434-438 
Francus  and  Yasus,  357 
Frotmund,  36,  162,  174,  175 
Frumentius,  206 

Gall,  St.,  203,  226 
Gallus,  JElius,  207 
Gama,  Da,  6,  182 

George  of  Byzantium,  188 ; another, 
213 

George,  St.,  140 
Gerard  of  Cremona,  404 
Germanus  of  Paris,  109 
Godfrey  of  Viterbo,  91,  336 
Golding,  Arthur,  252,  etc. 

Gordian,  Emperor,  341 
Gregentius,  209 

Gregory  I.,  The  Great,  Pope,  St., 
122-124,  128,  148,  240,  314 
Gregory  II.,  Pope,  147,  154 
Gregory  III.,  Pope,  155 
Gregory  of  Agrigentum,  122 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  70 
Gregory  of  Tours,  22,  108,  109,  121, 
122,  196,  340,  366 
Gregory  the  Illuminator,  206,  368 
Guido,  18,  40,  42,  304,  374,  375 
Guntram,  King,  122 


Hadrian,  Emperor,  63,  384 
Hannibal,  243 

Hanno  of  Carthage,  272,  322 
Harib  of  Cordova,  45,  455 
HarounAl  Raschid,  48,167, 198,202, 
325,  402,  408,  409,  448 
Hassan  Abou  Zeyd,  of  Siraf,  219, 
414  etc.,  423 

Haukal,  Ibn,  49,  434,  451-455 
Helena,  mother  of  Constantine,  St., 
21,  25,  28,  54-56 

Henry,  Prince,  of  Portugal,  the  Navi- 
gator, 3,  5,  225 

Heraclius,  Emperor,  124,  397,  473 
Hercules,  254,  343,  465 
Hermon  of  Jerusalem,  206 
Herodotus,  39,  243,  258,  276,  319, 323 
Hilarion,  70 

Hilary,  St.,  331,  383,  390 
Hiouen-Thsang,  50,  193,  217,  469, 
473,  475,  488,  503-514 
Hiouen-Tsung,  217,  218 
Hippalus,  194 
Hipparchus,  40 
Hlothere,  King,  141 
Hoei  Sin,  493-495,  499,  501-503 
Hoei  Sing,  490-492 
Hole,  Richard,  439,  etc. 

Homer,  251 
Homologus,  285 

Honorius,  Julius,  42, 46, 73,  364,  365, 
385 

Iamblichus,  308 
Ini  of  Wessex,  141,  143 
Isaac,  envoy  of  Haroun  A1  Raschid, 
325 

Isaac  and  Michael,  Patriarchs,  210 
Isaac  of  Spoleto,  etc.,  105 
Isidore  of  Seville,  St.,  41,  42,  44,  91, 
244,  247,  252,  314,  320,  324,  328, 
329,  332,  336,  337,  340,  360,  366- 
367,  373,  380 
I-tsing,  486-487 

Jason,  357 

Jerome,  St.,  28-30,  43,  69-73,  81-91, 
197,  335-338,  355,  356,  360 
Jesu  Jabus,  213,  219 
John  of  Kashgar,  221 
John  of  Mosul,  221 
John  of  Persia  and  Great  India,  211 
John  Philoponus,  44,  330,  331,  351 
John  of  Placentia,  25,  54 ; another, 
friend  of  Antoninus  Martyr,  110, 
115 

John  VIII.,  Pope,  204 


536 


INDEX. 


John  of  Salisbury,  341,  363 
Jornandes,  252,  305,  308,  311,  314, 
366 

Joseph  of  Turkestan,  221 
Josephus,  268 
Juba,  King,  251,  272 
Julian,  Emperor,  183,  190 
Julius,  Pope,  68 
Justin  II.,  Emperor,  186 
Justinian  I.,  Emperor,  21,  30,  97, 
117,  140,  177,  183,  184,  186,  189, 
190,  196,  209,  472 
Justinian  II.,  Emperor,  474 

Kassim,  Mohammed  Ibn,  399 

Kerman-Perinal,  214,  398 

Khordadbeh,  Ibn,  425-434,  443,  448 

Khoshkash,  465 

Kiatan,  488 

Kiho,  216,  217 

Kilian,  St.,  etc.,  226 

Klaproth,  498 

Kublai  Khan,  445 

Kutaiba,  399,  400,  477 

Lactantius,  274,  328,  352 
Lampridius,  383 

Leo  V.,  the  Armenian,  Emperor,  199, 
205 

Leo  the  Great  I.,  Pope,  St.,  227 
Leo  the  Isaurian,  Emperor,  145,  147, 
149,  154,  474,  475 
Leo  IV.,  Pope,  169 
Lewis  the  German,  166,  174,  204 
Lewis  the  Pious,  37 
Licinius,  93  ; another,  206 
Liutprand,  147 
Lollianus.  307,  314 
Lucan,  375 

Macrobius,  343,  344 
Magellan,  2,  182 
Magog,  358 
Malo,  St.,  230 
Mandeville,  252,  361 
Manetho,  279 
Maniach,  186 
Marcella,  57,  72,  81-83 
Marcellinus,  St.,  175 ; another,  365 
Marinus  of  Tyre,  376 
Mark  of  Raja,  221 
Martin  of  Braga,  St.,  107 
Martin  of  Tours,  St.,  107 
Massoudy,  49,  50,  396-399,  412,  414, 
424,  434,  450,  455-468,  478,  490 
Masue,  John,  408 
Maximus,  307 


Mcgasthcnes,  337 

Mela,  244,  247,  251 

Melania  (var.),  29,  71,  72,  89,  90 

Melchizedek,  301 

Mernoc,  231 

Meropius,  206 

Mihraj,  442 

Mirandola,  Pico  della,  361 
Misar  (Abou  Dolaf,  Ibn  Mohalhal), 
438 

Moawiyah,  131,  409,  474 
Mohammed,  16,  125,  144,  185,  397- 
398,  405,  407,  408,  484 
Moktader-Billah,  435 
Moses  Bar-Cepha,  333 
Moses  of  Khorene,  367-370 

Nearchus,  443 
Nepos,  Cornelius,  342 
Nestorius,  211 

Nicolas  I.,  Pope,  165,  166,  241 
Nonnosus,  209 

Ohthere  and  Wulfstan,  203 
Olopan,  215-217 
Omar,  Caliph,  124,  338 
Origen,  54,  276,  301,  328,  330 
Orosius,  40,  46,  89,  244,  314,  315, 
343,  353-355,  360,  361,  364,  366, 
385 

Otto  the  Great,  424 

Pamphilus,  279,  287,  288 

Pantsenus,  205,  214 

Pantaleon  and  Michael,  208 

Pappus  of  Alexandria,  367,  368 

Paterius,  110,  116 

Patricius  of  Persia,  282,  288 

Patrick,  St.,  224,  232 

Paul  the  Deacon,  122 

Paul  the  Hermit  (var.),  120,  233 

Paula,  29,  71,  72,  81-85 

Paulinus  of  Nola,  56,  70 

Pausanias,  360 

Pelagius,  89 

Penda,  225 

Pepin,  158 

Peter,  friend  of  Cosmas,  279 

Peter  of  Burgundy,  137 

Petroc  of  Cornwall,  106 

Petronax,  155 

Petronius  of  Bologna,  90 

Peutinger,  Conrad,  305,  377,  380 

Photius,  165,  330,  351 

Phyros,  357 

Plato,  15,  240,  279 

Pliny,  8,  244,  247,  250,  254,  261,  271, 


INDEX. 


537 


320,  321,  323,  324,  342,  345,  353, 
377,  405,  450,  489 

Polo,  Marco,  3,  199,  221,  429,  445, 
480 

Polyclitus,  362 
Pompey,  357 
Porphyry,  308,  314 
Postumianus,  etc.,  87 
Potentinus,  etc.,  57 
Prester,  John,  211,  222 
Priscian,  247,  248,  252,  320,  324, 
364 

Probus,  123 

Procopius  of  Caesarea,  108,  125,  365 
Procopius  of  Gaza,  329 
Provinus  (-binus),  etc.  307,  312 
Ptolemy,  Claudius,  9,  15,  39,  180, 
181,  183,  190,  193,  224,  243,  244, 
246,  247,  258,  304,  305,  315,  342, 
344,  353,  365,  367,  368,  376,  377, 
381,  394,  404,  410,  426,  433,  461, 
472  [only  allusive  notices] 

Ptolemy  Euergetes,  291 
Pythagoras,  342 

Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  183,  279,  291, 
319,  341 

Quilius,  53 

Raban  Maur,  274,  334,  373 
Raleigh,  Walter,  357 
Ratramm  of  Corbey,  327 
Ravennese  Geographer,  18,  40,  42, 
303-316,  334,  338,  355,  390 
Reinand,  J.  T.,  439,  etc. 

Richard,  father  of  Willibald,  St.,  141, 
145,  146 

Rimbert,  St.,  337 
Roderic  of  Toledo,  430 
Romoald  of  Beneventum,  375 
Romulus,  357 
Rufinus,  25,  71,  206 
Rusticiana,  123 

Saba  (Mar),  97 
Sabar-Jesus,  221 
Sabinian,  etc.,  81 
Salibazacha,  218 
Sallam,  49,  414,  433 
Sallust,  251 
Salvian,  197 
Samuel,  Bishop,  212 
Santarem,  380,  386 
Sapor,  212 
Sapor  (Mar),  214 
Sequester,  Yibius,  363 
Servius,  244 


Severian(us)  of  Gabala,  275,  282, 
329,  331,  333,  334,  351,  352 
Sichard  of  Beneventum,  174 
Sighelm  and  iEthelstan,  203 
Silco  of  Nubia,  210 
Silvia  of  Aquitaine,  28-30, 73-81,  167 
Simplicius,  etc.,  123 
Sindbad,  49,  235-238,  398,  438-450 
Sisinnius,  etc.,  88 

Soleyman  the  Merchant,  48,  49,  235, 
413,  414-417 

Solinus,  20,  40,  42,  43,  243-273,  304, 
318,  320,  323-325,  327,  343,  360, 
366,  428 

Sopater,  190,  191 
Sophronius,  124 
Stephen,  167 
Stephen  of  Antioch,  298 
Strabo,  15,  39,  181,  207,  243,  376 
Stylites,  107 
Subchal-Jesu  (s),  219 
Sung-Yun,  490-492 
Sylvester  I.,  Pope,  67 
Symmachus,  154 

Tacitus,  268 
Taitsung,  474,  477,  503 
Tardu,  or  Tateu,  188 
Tertullian  (pseudo),  338 
Tetsung,  476 
Theodore,  213 

Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  282, 330, 350, 
351 

Theodoric,  149,  154,  365 
Theodosius  I.,  Emperor,  320,  323, 
381 

Theodosius  II.,  Emperor,  248 
Theodosius,  pilgrim,  31,  99-105,  132, 
167,  338 
Thecdota,  117 
Theodulf  of  Orleans,  388 
Theophanes,  185 

Theophanes,  friend  of  Pompey,  357 

Theophilus,  207 

Theophylact,  473 

Theudemund,  167 

Thomas,  St.,  205 

Thomas,  merchant,  213 

Thomas  of  Edessa,  282,  288 

Thucydides,  319 

Tiberius  I.,  Emperor,  280  n. 

Tiberius  II.,  Emperor,  188 
Tidbert,  155 
Trajan,  Emperor,  119 
Turribius,  etc.,  88 
Tygris,  or  Thecla,  108 
Tzimiskes,  John,  Emperor,  175 


538 


INDEX 


Ulphilas,  224 

Ulysses,  200,  201,  043,  440,  447 
Urbicius,  103 

Valiab,  Ibn,  210,  415,  etc. 

Viviens,  381 
Valentine,  188 

Valentinian  (vai\),  380  n.,  383 
Varro,  244,  247,  251,  203,  337 
Vegetius,  333,  380 
Vietorinus  of  Poictiers,  338 
Vincent  of  Beauvais,  02 
Virgil,  poet,  251,  270,  377 
Virgil  of  Salzburg,  220,  318,  372- 
373,  378 
Vuinochus,  121 

Wairner  of  Champagne,  124 
Walburga,  or  Walpurgis,  141 


| Walid,  Caliph,  400,  402,  478 
Wathck-Billah,  Caliph,  414 
Willibald,  23,  34,  130,  132,  140-157 
, 100 
I Winna,  141 
Wulfilaich,  140 
Wulphlagius,  124 
Wunebald,  141 
: Wutsung,  221 

Yezid  II.,  Caliph,  150,  152 
Y-hang,  487 

1 Zacharias,  Pope,  1 58, 372, 373, 388, 389 
I Zemarchus  of  Cilicia,  186-188,  100, 
505 

Zeno,  Emperor,  03,  408 
Zenodoxus  (Xenodox — ),  362 
Zenopliilus  (Xenoph — ),  50 


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The  Rev.  A.  C.  Headlam,  B.D., 

Author  (with  Prof.  W.  Sanday)  of  “A  Com- 
mentary on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.” 

D.  G.  Hogarth,  M.A., 

Director  of  the  British  School  at  Athens. 


With  an  Introductory  Cpiapter  on  the  General  Value  of  Archeological 
Evidence,  its  Capabilities  and  Limitations,  by  the  Editor. 


Edited  by  DAVID  G.  HOGARTH, 

Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford, 

Author  of  “ Philip  and  Alexander,”  “ A Wandering  Scholar,”  &c. 

8vo. 

Professor  Driver’s  Chapters  will  deal  with  the  Hebrew  world,  typical  Old  Testament 
narratives  being  taken,  and  tested  and  illustrated  from  Archaeological  discovery. 

Mr.  Griffith  writes  on  the  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  world,  with  special  reference  to 
Herodotus.  Mr.  Hogarth  on  the  Primitive  Aegean  world,  with  special  reference  to  Homer. 
Mr.  Gardner  on  the  Hellenic  world,  how  far  our  knowledge  of  it,  derived  from  classical 
Greek  literature,  is  modified  by  Greek  Archaeology. 

Mr.  F.  Haverfield's  chapter  treats  of  the  Roman  world,  and  the  contribution  which 
Archaeology  makes  to  its  history. 

Mr.  Headlam’s  chapters  are  devoted  to  our  knowledge  of  the  world  of  Primitive  Christen- 
dom, and  how  it  is  affected  by  recent  discoveries,  chiefly  in  Egypt,  Phrygia,  and  the 
Roman  Catacombs. 


6 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  Forthcoming  Works. 


THE  COST  OF  SPORT. 


Edited  by  F.  G.  AFLALO, 

Joint  Editor  of  the  “ Encyclopaedia  of  Sport.” 

Crown  Svo.  [In  the  Press. 


Includmg  amongst  othen 

Angling. 

Coaching  and  Driving,  by  W.  C.  A. 
Blew. 

Coursing,  by  J.  W.  Bourne. 

Cricket,  by  W.  J.  Ford. 

Cycling,  by  H.  Graves. 

Ferrets,  by  N.  Everitt. 

Golf,  by  Garden  C.  Smith. 

Hawking,  by  the  Hon.  Gerald  Las- 
celles. 

Horses  and  Hunting,  by  W.  C.  A. 
Blew,  the  Earl  of  Coventry,  Major 
Gerald  Ricardo,  E.  T.  Sachs, 
Walter  Winans,  &c. 


the  following  subjects  : — 

j Lawn  Tennis. 

Mountaineering  . 

Polo,  by  W.  C.  A.  Blew. 

Racing,  by  E.  T.  Sachs. 

Rowing  (also  Punting,  Houseboats, 
&c.),  by  R.  PorHAM  Lobb,  and  others. 
Shooting  (Big  Game,  &c.),  by  H.  A. 
Bryden,  Capt.  Gerard  Ferrand,  J. 
D.  Inverarity. 

Trotting,  by  Walter  Winans. 
Yachting  and  Sailing  (Canoes,  Wher- 
ries, &c.),  by  Warington  Baden- 
POWELL,  C.  S.  COLMAN,  C.E.,  A.  L. 
j Rumbold,  &c. 


CHAPTERS  FROM  ARISTOTLE’S  ETHICS 
FOR  ENGLISH  READERS. 

By  J.  H.  MUIRHEAD,  M.A. 

Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy,  Mason  University  College,  Birmingham. 

Author  of  “ The  Elements  of  Ethics.’ 

Crown  Svo. 

Starting  from  Aristotle’s  definitions  and  discussions  of  leading  Ethical  questions,  the  book 
brings  them  into  connection  with  the  results  of  recent  Psychology  and  Ethics,  with  the  view 
of  making  them  available  as  the  basis  for  a theory  of  life  and  education.  The  chief  subjects 
dealt  with  are  Happiness,  Goodness,  the  Virtues,  Friendship,  Pleasure,  Reasonableness  in 
Conduct,  the  Employment  of  Leisure. 


HAWAII  AND  REVOLUTION. 

THE  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCES  OF  A NEWSPAPER  CORRE- 
SPONDENT IN  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS  DURING 
THE  CRISIS  OF  1893  AND  AFTERWARDS. 


By  MARY  H.  KROUT. 

With  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo.  10 s.  6d. 


[ Just  out. 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  Forthcoming  Works. 


7 


FUNAFUTI: 

OR,  THREE  MONTHS  ON  A REMOTE  CORAL  ISLAND. 

AN  UNSCIENTIFIC  ACCOUNT  OF  A SCIENTIFIC  EXPEDITION  IN 

THE  SOUTH  SEAS. 

By  Mrs.  DAVID. 

With  Illustrations . Crown  8vo. 

>♦♦♦♦*♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

SUGGESTIVE  LIVES  AND  THOUGHTS: 

OR,  BRIEF  STUDIES,  LITERARY,  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND 
RELIGIOUS,  FOR  EVERY  DAY  IN  THE  YEAR. 

By  EDWIN  HODDER. 

COMPRISING  EXTRACTS  FROM  OVER  600  AUTHORS. 

Large  detny  8vo.  2s.  6d.  net.  [In  a few  days. 


MR.  MURRAY’S  PROGRESSIVE  SCIENCE  SERIES. 

NEW  VOLUMES. 

Large  8vo.  6s.  per  Volume. 

THE  GROUNDWORK  OF  SCIENCE. 

By  ST.  GEORGE  MIVART,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  F.R.S. 

[Now  ready 

EARTH  SCULPTURE. 

By  Professor  GEIKIE,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 

Illustrated. 


Other  Volumes  will  be  shortly  Announced. 


8 Mr.  Murray  s List  of  Forthcoming  Works . 

THE  TEMPLE  OF  MUT  IN  ASHER. 

A NARRATIVE  OF  EXCAVATIONS  AT  KARNAK,  WITH  AN 
ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DISCOVERIES  MADE  AND  THEIR 
CONNECTION  WITH  THE  HISTORY  AND 
RELIGION  OF  EGYPT. 

By  Miss  MARGARET  BENSON  and  Miss  JANET  GOURLAY. 

The  Inscriptions  and  Translations  by  Percy  E.  Newberry. 

With  Map , Plan , and  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo. 


NEW  EDITION  OF 

BILLY  AND  HANS: 

A TRUE  HISTORY. 

WITH  AN  ADDED  CHAPTER  ON  “THE  SUCCESSORS  OF  BILLY 

AND  HANS.” 

By  W.  J.  STILLMAN, 

With  Pictures  by  LIZA  STILLMAN. 

Small  Crown  8vo.  is.  [Mow  ready. 

Sold  for  the  Benefit  of  Miss  Hyacinthe  Cavendish  Bentinck’s 
“Violet  Home”  for  Poor  Children. 


A COTSWOLD  VILLAGE: 


OR,  COUNTRY  LIFE  AND  PURSUITS  IN  GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
By  J.  ARTHUR  GIBBS. 

With  Illustrations.  Crown  8 vo. 


CONTENTS. 


1.  Flying  Westwards. 

2.  A Cotswold  Village. 

3.  The  Language  of  the  Cotswolds  ; 

with  some  Ancient  Songs  and 
Legends. 

4.  On  the  Wolds. 

5.  A Cotswold  Trout  Stream. 

6.  When  the  May-Fly  is  up. 

7.  Burford,  a Cotswold  Town. 


8.  A Stroll  through  the  Cots- 

wolds. 

9.  Cotswold  Pastimes. 

10.  Cirencester. 

11.  Spring  in  the  Cotswolds. 

12.  The  Promise  of  May. 

13.  Autumn. 

14.  When  the  Sun  goes  down. 


Mr.  Murray's  List  of  Forthcoming  Works . 


9 


THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  AND  POLITICAL 
CORRESPONDENCE  OF  AUGUSTUS  HENRY, 
THIRD  DUKE  OF  GRAFTON. 

FROM  HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED  DOCUMENTS  IN  THE 
POSSESSION  OF  HIS  FAMILY. 

Edited  by  Sir  WILLIAM  R.  ANSON,  Bart., 

Warden  of  All  Souls  College,  Oxford. 

Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 

With  Portrait.  Demy  Svo.  18s.  [Jwt  out^ 


VAGARIES. 

By  AXEL  MUNTHE, 

Author  of  “ Letters  from  a Mourning  City,”  &c. 

Crown  8 vo.  6s.  [fust  out. 

CONTENTS : — Toys— For  those  who  love  Music — Political  Agitations  in 

Capri  — Menagerie  — Italy  in  Paris  — Blackcock-shooting  — To  

• — Monsieur  Alfredo — Mont  Blanc,  King  of  the  Mountains — Raffaella 
— The  Dogs  in  Capri,  an  interior  — Zoology  — Hypochondria  — La 
Madonna  del  Buon  Cammino. 


A NEW  AND  POPULAR  EDITION  OF 

TWELVE  INDIAN  STATESMEN. 

By  Dr.  GEORGE  SMITH,  C.I.E. 

Charles  Grant — Sir  Henry  Lawrence — John,  Lord  Lawrence — Sir  James 
Outram — Sir  Donald  McLeod — Sir  Henry  Marion  Durand — Lt.-Genl. 
Colin  Mackenzie — Sir  Herbert  Edwardes— John  Clark  Marshman — 
Sir  Henry  Maine— Sir  Henry  Ramsay — Sir  Charles  U.  Aitchison. 

With  Portraits.  Crown  8 vo.  6s. 

"Few  will  arise  from  the  perusal  of  these  pages  without  a conviction  that  the  strong  fibres 
of  Puritan  England  and  Presbyterian  Scotland  and  Ireland  played  a larger  part  than  is 
usually  supposed  in  the  achievements  of  our  countrymen  in  the  East.” — Times. 

‘ ‘ It  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  everyone  who  is  looking  forward  to  a career  in  the 
East.” — Leeds  Mercury. 

“ A book  more  likely  to  fire  the  imagination  and  purify  the  purpose  of  a young  man  could 
not  easily  be  devised.” — British  Weekly. 


io  Mr.  Murray  s List  of  Forthcoming  Works . 


NOTES  FROM  AN  INDIAN  DIARY, 

l88l l886. 

By  The  Right  Hon.  Sir  MOUNTSTU ART  E.  GRANT  DUFF, 

G.C.S.I. 

2 Vols.  Crown  Svo. 


♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

MEMOIR  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  OF 
SUSAN  FERRIER. 

Author  of  “Marriage,”  “Destiny,”  etc. 

BASED  ON  HER  PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  IN  THE 
POSSESSION  OF,  AND  COLLECTED  BY,  HER  GRANDNEPHEW 

JOHN  FERRIER. 

Edited  by  JOHN  A.  DOYLE, 

Fellow  of  All  Souls  College,  Oxford. 

With  Portraits.  Demy  Svo. 


THE  ART  OF  DINING: 

OR,  GASTRONOMY  AND  GASTRONOMERS. 
A New,  Complete,  and  Annotated  Edition. 
Crown  Svo. 


MUSIC: 

HOW  IT  CAME  TO  BE  WHAT  IT  IS. 


By  HANNAH  SMITH. 

With  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo.  [ In  a few  days. 


ORGANIC  EVOLUTION  CROSS-EXAMINED: 

OR,  SOME  SUGGESTIONS  ON  THE  GREAT  SECRET 
OF  BIOLOGY. 


By  the  DUKE  OF  ARGYLL,  K.G. 

Crown  Svo.  5^. 


[Just  out. 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  Forthcoming  Works. 


1 1 


THE  LORD’S  PRAYER. 

By  the  Late  EDWARD  MEYRIOK  GOULBURN,  D.D., 

Sometime  Dean  of  Norwich. 

Author  of  “ Thoughts  on  Personal  Religion,”  &c. 

Crown  Svo.  6s.  [ Just  out. 

CONTENTS : — The  Structure  and  Completeness  of  the  Lord’s  Prayer— 
The  Lord’s  Prayer — The  Context  of  the  Lord’s  Prayer — The  Sources 
of  the  Lord’s  Prayer — The  Petitions  (seriatim). 


THE  WALLS  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

STUDIES  ON  THE  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  THE  BYZANTINE  CITY 
AND  ADJACENT  OBJECTS  OF  INTEREST. 


By  ALEXANDER  VAN  MILLINGEN,  M.A. 

Professor  of  History,  Robert  College,  Constantinople. 

With  Plans  and  Il.ustrations.  Svo. 


CONTENTS. 


The  Site  of  Constantinople — The 
Limits  of  Byzantium. 

The  City  of  Constantine— Its  Limits 
— Fortifications  — Interior  Ar- 
rangement. 

The  Theodosian  Walls. 

The  Gates  in  the  Theodosian  Walls. 

Repairs  on  the  Theodosian  Walls. 

Palace  of  the  Porphyrogenitus 
(Tekfour  Serai). 

The  Wall  of  the  Emperor  Manuel 
Comnenus. 


The  Tower  of  Anemas — The  Tower 
of  Isaac  Angelus. 

Inmates  of  the  Prison  of  Anemas. 

The  Wall  of  Heraclius  and  the 
Wall  of  Leo  V.,  the  Armenian. 

The  Seaward  Walls. 

The  Walls  along  the  Golden  Horn. 

The  Walls  along  the  Sea  of  Mar- 
mora. 

Harbours  on  the  Sea  of  Marmora 
— Harbour  of  the  Bucoleon. 

The  Hebdomon. 


Particular  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  examination  of  the  evidence  adduced  for  the 
sites  of  celebrated  buildings  and  localities.  The  historical  associations  of  these  localities 
will  also  be  indicated. 


A BOY  IN  THE  PENINSULAR  WAR. 

THE  SERVICES,  ADVENTURES,  AND  EXPERIENCES  OF 
ROBERT  BLAKENEY,  Subaltern  in  the  28th  Regiment. 


AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Edited  by  JULIAN  STURGIS, 

Author  of  “John  a Dreams,”  “ Comedy  of  a Country  House,”  &c. 

Demy  Svo. 


12  Mr.  Murray  s List  of  Forthcoming  Works . 


MARINE  BOILERS. 

A TREATISE  ON  THE  CONSTRUCTION  AND  WORKING  OF 
BOILERS  OF  ALL  CLASSES,  DEALING  MORE  ESPECIALLY 
WITH  RECENT  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  TUBULOUS  BOILERS 
AND  THE  RESULTS  OBTAINED. 

BASED  ON  THE  WORK  OF  M.  BERTIN, 

Chief  Constructor  of  the  French  Navy. 

Translated  and  Edited  by  LESLIE  S.  ROBERTSON, 

Assoc.  M.Inst.  C.E.,  M.I.M.E.,  M.I.N.A. 

With  a Preface  by  Sir  William  White,  K.C.B.,  Director  of  Naval  Construction 

to  the  Admiralty. 

With  upwards  of  250  Illustrations.  Demy  Svo. 


THE  LIFE,  WRITINGS,  AND  CORRESPONDENCE 
OF  GEORGE  BORROW. 

1803 l88l. 

BASED  ON  OFFICIAL  AND  OTHER  AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS. 


By  Professor  WILLIAM  I.  KNAPP,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  Knapp  has  spent  many  years  in  searching:  out  and  collecting  correspondence, 
documents  and  facts  connected  with  the  life  of  George  Borrow,  and  in  visiting  the  scenes  and 
places  described  by  him,  and  the  public  will  now  have  laid  before  them  an  authentic  life  of 
this  remarkable  man. 

With  Portrait  and  Illustrations.  2 Vols.  Demy  Svo. 


CONTENTS. 


1.  Childhood  and  Youth,  1803-1822. 

2.  Early  Literary  Struggles,  1823- 

1833. 

3.  Life  in  Russia  for  Bible  Society, 

1833-1835. 

4.  Life  in  the  Peninsula  for  Bible 

Society,  1835-1840. 

5.  Marriage  and  Life  at  Oulton, 

1840-1853.  (Tramp  to  Constan- 
tinople, ’44.) 

6.  Head  - Quarters  at  Yarmouth, 

1853-1860.  (Tramps  in  Corn- 


wall, Wales,  Man,  East 
Anglia,  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land, 1853-1859.) 

7.  Life  in  London  (Hereford  Sq., 

Brompton),  1860-1874.  (Tramps 
in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  ;66.) 

8.  Old  Age  at  Oulton  and  Norwich, 

1874-1881. 

9.  Chronological  Tables  of  his 

Life  and  Memory,  1803-1897. 

10.  Chronological  Bibliography  of 
his  Works,  Printed  and  MS. 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  Forthcoming  Works. 


13 


THE  STORY  OF  MARCO  POLO. 

Edited  by  N.  BROOKS. 

With  many  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo.  6s. 

CONTENTS  /—Marco’s  Family,  his  Father,  and  his  Uncle  — How  the 
Polos  went  to  the  Dominions  of  Kublai  Khan  and  got  back  again 
— Flow  Messer  Marco  Polo  was  captured  by  the  Genoese — The  Ex- 
ploits of  Alexander  the  Great— Siory  of  the  Miserly  Caliph  of 
Bagdad  and  his  Gold — The  Three  Kings — The  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain— Origin  of  the  Assassins— The  Gems  of  Badakshan— The 
Conjurers  of  Cashmere  — The  Rocf  of  the  World  — A Marvellous 
Story  of  Samarcand  — The  Sea  of  Sand  and  its  Marvels  — The 
Fabled  Salamander  — How  Jenghiz  Kiian  defeated  Prester  John  — 
Diviners  and  their  Tricks — Gog  and  Magog  ? — The  Tricks  of  Chinese 
Conjurers — The  Beautiful  Palace  of  Kublai  Khan  — Ancient  and 
Modern  Peking  — The  Golden  King  and  Prester  John  — The  Famed 
Yellow  River — “The  People  of  the  Gold  Teeth” — Curiosities  of 
Tattooing  — Lions  and  Lion-hunting  Dogs  — Bayan  Hundred-eyes  — 
The  Polo  Brothers  introduce  Western  Siege  Artillery  — The  Yang- 
tse-kiang  and  its  Monasteries  — Kinsay  (the  City  of  Heaven)— An 
Excursion  to  Cipango,  or  Japan  — The  Wonders  of  India  — Pearl- 
fishers  AND  THEIR  PERILS — HUNTING  DIAMONDS  WITH  EAGLES — A PEEP 
into  Africa — The  Mythical  Roc  and  its  Mighty  Eggs — The  Exploits 
of  King  Caidu’s  Daughter. 


LETTERS  BY  BENJAMIN  JOWETT, 

LATE  MASTER  OF  BALLIOL. 

(Supplementary  to  the  Life,  published  in  1897.) 

Edited  by  EVELYN  ABBOTT,  M.A.,  and  Professor  LEWIS  CAMPBELL. 

With  Portrait.  I Vol.  Demy  8z >0. 

♦ ♦ ♦♦♦ 

AMONG  THE  CELESTIALS. 

A NARRATIVE  OF  TRAVELS  IN  MANCHURIA,  ACROSS  THE 
GOBI  DESERT  AND  THROUGH  THE  HIMALAYAS  TO  INDIA. 

Abridged  from  “The  Heart  of  a Continent,”  with  Additions. 

By  Captain  FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND,  C.I.E., 

Gold  Medallist  R.G.S.,  Author  of  “ The  Relief  of  Chitral,”  “ South  Africa  of  To-Day.” 

With  Map  and  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo. 


14  Mr.  Murray's  List  of  Forthcoming  Works . 


A HISTORY  OF  ASTRONOMY. 

By  ARTHUR  BERRY,  M.A., 

Fellow  of  King’s  College,  Cambridge  ; Secretary  to  the  Cambridge  University  Extension  Syndicate. 

With  Numerous  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo. 

NEW  VOLUME  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXTENSION  MANUALS. 
Edited  by  Professor  Knight,  of  St.  Andrews. 


SIR  WILLIAM  SMITH’S 
SMALLER  CLASSICAL  DICTIONARY. 

A NEW  EDITION,  THOROUGHLY  REVISED  AND  IN  TART 
RE-WRITTEN. 

Edited  by  G.  E.  MARINDIN,  M.A., 

Formerly  Fellow  of  King’s  College,  Cambridge,  and  Assistant  Master  of  Eton  College. 

With  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo.  7 s.  6 d.  [ fust  out. 

COLOUR  IN  NATURE. 

A STUDY  IN  BIOLOGY. 

By  Miss  MARION  NEWBIGIN. 

Crown  8vo. 


THE  FIVE  WINDOWS  OF  THE  SOUL 

A POPULAR  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  HUMAN  SENSES. 

By  EDWARD  HAMILTON  AITKEN, 

Author  of  “ The  Tribes  on  my  Frontier,”  “ Behind  the  Bungalow,”  “A  Naturalist  on  the  Prowl.” 

Crown  %vo. 

CONTENTS On  Perceiving — The  Sense  of  Touch— Taste— The  Pleasures 
and  Pains  of  the  Sense  of  Smell— Hearing — The  Pleasures  of  Hear- 
ing— Music — Light — Sight— The  Human  Eye  and  its  use— Colour — The 
Pleasure  of  Seeing— Beauty — The  Beauty  of  this  World— Other 
Senses — Retrospect— The  Moral  Sense. 


Mr.  Murray's  List  of  Forthcoming  Works. 


15 


LITTLE  ARTHUR’S  HISTORY  OF  GREECE, 

A COMPANION  VOLUME  TO  “LITTLE  ARTHUR’S  ENGLAND” 
AND  “LITTLE  ARTHUR’S  FRANCE.” 

By  the  Rev.  A.  S.  WALPOLE,  M.A. 

With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo. 

NEW  HANDBOOK -WARWICKSHIRE. 

WARWICK,  KENILWORTH,  STRATFORD-ON-AVON,  BIRMINGHAM, 

COVENTRY,  &c. 

A New  Work. 

With  Maps  and  Plans.  Crown  8vo. 

HANDBOOK- ROME  AND  THE  CAMPAGNA. 

CONTAINING  A SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ROME,  A SKETCH  OF  THE 
FORTUNES  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER,  ARTICLES  ON  ARCHITEC- 
TURE (by  R.  PHENfe  Spiers,  F.S.A.),  ON  SCULPTURE  (by  A.  S.  Murray, 
LL.D.,  F.S.A.),  AND  ON  PAINTING,  by  Mrs.  Ady  (Julia  Cartwright). 

The  Archaeological  portions  of  the  book  have  had  the  advantage  of  Prof,  Lanciani’s 

revision. 

New  Edition  (Sixteenth). 

Revised  by  NORWOOD  YOUNG. 

With  94  Maps  and  Plans.  Crown  8vo,  10s. 

HANDBOOK-BERKSHIRE 
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 

ALMOST  ENTIRELY  RE-WRITTEN. 

With  Maps , &c.  Crown  8z >0. 


[. Nearly  ready. 


[AND 


[/n  preparation. 


Albemarle  Street, 

October , 1898. 


MR.  MURRAY’S 

LIST  OF 

NEW  AND  RECENT  PUBLICATIONS. 


Five  Years  in  Siam. 

A RECORD  OF  JOURNEYS  UP  AND  DOWN  THE  COUNTRY,  AND 
OF  LIFE  AMONG  THE  PEOPLE  FROM  1891  TO  1896,  WITH  SOME 
REMARKS  ON  THE  RESOURCES  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF 
THE  KINGDOM. 

By  H.  WARINGTON  SMYTH,  M.A.,  LL.B.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.G.S., 

Formerly  Director  of  the  Department  of  Mines  in  Siam. 


With  Illustrations  from  the  Author's  Drawings  and  Maps.  2 Vols.  Crown  8vo.  24 s. 

“ A deeply  interesting  account  of  the  Siamese  people,  their  ways,  their  views,  and  their 
country." — Daily  Chronicle. 

“ Here  at  last  is  the  kind  of  book  for  which  all  English  readers  interested  in  Siam  have 
been  waiting.  It  is  the  work  of  a writer  whose  conclusions  are  the  result  of  personal  observa- 
tion.”— Daily  News. 


Russia’s  Sea  Power,  Past  and  Present; 

OR,  THE  RISE  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  NAVY. 

By  Col.  Sir  GEORGE  SYDENHAM  CLARKE,  K.C.M.G.,  F.R.S., 

Author  of  “ Fortification,”  etc. 

With  Maps  and  Diagrams.  Crown  8vo.  6s.  \Just  out. 

‘ ‘ Contains  an  account  of  the  Russian  naval  history  and  of  the  existing  fleet,  and  is  certainly 
a most  valuable  contribution  to  a study  of  naval  and  international  politics.” — Army  and  Navy 
Gazette. 

“ Sir  George  Clarke  deserves  to  be  thanked  for  having  brought  together  a number  of  facts 
regarding  the  growth  and  progress  of  a navy  in  which  this  country  is  particularly  interested.” 
Morning  Post. 


Mr.  M urray  s List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 17 


Things  Japanese. 

BEING  NOTES  ON  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS,  CONNECTED  WITH 
JAPAN,  FOR  THE  USE  OF  TRAVELLERS  AND  OTHERS. 

By  BASIL  HALL  CHAMBERLAIN-, 

Emeritus  Professor  of  Japanese  and  Philology  in  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo. 

Third  Edition,  revised.  Crown.  8vo.  {Printed  in  J apan.)  •js.  6d.  [ fust  out. 

“ The  book  is  eminently  readable  and  entertaining.  Where  there  are  some  thousands  of 
curious  facts  recorded,  it  is  difficult  to  select  one.  . . . Altogether  the  book  is  full  of 

fascination  for  those  who  care  for  things  Japanese.” — Spectator. 


Handbook  Dictionary: 

ENGLISH — FRENCH — GERMAN. 

CONTAINING  ALL  THE  WORDS  AND  IDIOMATIC  PHRASES 
LIKELY  TO  BE  REQUIRED  BY  A TRAVELLER. 

COMPENDIOUS  RULES  OF  GRAMMAR. 

By  G.  F.  CHAMBERS. 

A New  Edition , revised.  Post  Svo.  6s.  [ Now  ready. 

“The  book  realises  its  aim  admirably,  and  may  be  cordially  recommended. "—Pall  Mall 
Gazette , 


What  is  Good  Music. 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  PERSONS  DESIRING  TO  CULTIVATE  A 
TASTE  IN  MUSICAL  ART. 

By  W.  J.  HENDERSON, 

Author  of  “The  Story  of  Music,”  “Preludes  and  Studies,”  &c. 

Crown  8vo.  $s. 

“ None  has  succeeded  better  or  won  his  way  so  close  to  the  central  problem  as  Mr. 
Henderson.  Mr.  Henderson  has  the  happy  gift  of  explaining  clearly  and  most  concisely  such 
elementary  distinctions  as  amateurs  require  to  know.” — Times. 

— ♦> 

Sermons  to  Young  Boys. 

DELIVERED  AT  ELSTREE  SCHOOL. 

By  the  Rev.  F.  DE  W.  LTJSHINGTON. 

Crown  8 vo.  y.  6d.  [ Now  ready. 

“ Amid  many  sermons  to  boys  these  stand  somewhat  alone,  both  for  their  simplicity  and 
also  because  they  are  addressed  to  younger  boys  than  are  school  sermons  of  the  more  common 
type.  ” — Guardian. 


1 8 Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications , 


Memoirs  of  a Highland  Lady. 

(Miss  Grant  of  Rothiemurchus,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Smith  of  Baltiboys.) 

1 797— 1830. 

Edited  by  LADY  STKACHEY. 

Third  Impression.  Demy  Svo.  10 s.  6d. 

“ One  of  the  most  delightful  books  that  any  reader  could  desire  is  to  be  found,  somewhat 
unexpectedly,  in  the  * Memoirs  of  a Highland  Lady.’  As  a picture  of  life  in  the  Highlands  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century  Mrs.  Smith’s  Memoirs  are  invaluable.” — World. 

“ We  have  seldom  read  a book  as  rich  in  interesting  passages,  good  stories,  and  portraits 
of  quaint  and  striking  personalities  as  these  Memoirs." — Literary  World. 


PROGRESSIVE  SCIENCE  SERIES,  VOL.  I.  (Others  to  follow  shortly). 

A Study  of  Man : 

AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  ETHNOLOGY. 


By  Professor  A.  C.  HADDON,  D.Sc.,  M.A. 

Large  Svo.  6s.  Illustrated. 




Essays  on  Church  Reform. 

Edited  by  the  Rev.  CHARLES  GORE,  M.A.,  D.D.  (Edin.), 

Of  the  Community  of  the  Resurrection,  and  Canon  of  Westminster. 

Svo.  IOL  6d. 


CONTENTS. 


1.  General  Lines  of  Church 

Reform. 

2.  The  Original  Position  of  the 

Laity  in  the  Christian 
Church. 

3.  The  Actual  Methods  of  Self- 

Government  in  the  Esta- 
blished Church  of  Scot- 
land. 

4.  An  Ideal  of  Church  and  State. 


5.  A Practicable  Ideal  of  Self- 

Government. 

6.  Legal  and  Parliamentary  Possi- 

bilities. 

7.  Parish  Councils. 

8.  Patronage. 

9.  Pensions  for  the  Clergy. 

10.  Increase  of  the  Episcopate. 

11.  Church  Reform  and  Social 

Problems. 


Bishop  Hall,  of  Vermont,  U.S.A.,  the  Rev.  J.  Watkin  Williams,  of  Cape 
Town,  the  Rev.  Canon  Travers  Smith,  of  Dublin,  and  Mr.  R.  T.  N.  Speir,  of 
Muthill,  Perthshire,  will  give  accounts  of  the  methods  of  Self-Government  in  their  re- 
spective Non-established  Churches,  with  special  reference  to  the  position  of  the  Laity. 

“ In  this  case,  as  in  the  case  of  ‘ Lux  Mundi,’  the  publication  of  the  book  marks  a step  in 
the  progress  of  a movement.  * Lux  Mundi’  gave  a decisive  impulse  to  certain  broader  views 
of  Catholic  theology  ; this  volume  may  give  an  impulse  to  the  movement  in  favour  of  Church 
Reform.” — Yorks  Daily  Post. 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 19 


A Concise  Dictionary  of 
Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities, 

Uniform  with  Smith’s  Classical  Dictionary. 

Condensed  and  Edited  by  F.  WARRE  CORNISH,  M»A. 

Vice-Provost  of  Eton  College. 

In  One  Volume.  With  upwards  of  1150  Illustrations.  Medium  Zvo.  2ls.  [Just  out. 

1 1 Mr.  Cornish  is  doubly  qualified,  both  as  a wide-read  and  accurate  scholar  and  as  a 
schoolmaster  donatus  rude , to  edit  such  a work,  and  he  has  had  the  help  of  many  accom- 
plished friends.  To  realise  the  advance  of  the  last  twenty  years,  both  in  scholarship  and 
archaeology,  we  need  only  turn  to  the  articles  Navis  and  Pottery.  The  coloured  vases  given 
under  the  head  of  the  latter  are  beautiful  specimens.  . . . No  classical  sixth  form  boy  should 
be  without  it.” — Journal  of  Education. 

“ It  is  certain  to  be  widely  used  in  schools  and  colleges,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a 
better  book  for  a school  prize.” — Manchester  Guardian. 

++ 


COPYRIGHT  AND  ONLY  AUTHORISED  EDITION  OF 
BYRON’S  WORKS. 


The  Works  of  Lord  Byron, 

A NEW  TEXT,  COLLATED  WITH  THE  ORIGINAL  MSS.  AND 
REVISED  PROOFS,  WHICH  ARE  STILL  IN  EXISTENCE, 
WITH  MANY  HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED  ADDITIONS. 


This  will  be  the  most  complete  Edition  of  Lord  Byron1  s Works , as  no  other 
Editors  have  had  access  to  the  original  MSS.,  and  the  only  one 
authorised  by  his  family  and  representatives. 

With  Portraits  and  Illustrations.  To  be  completed  in  12  Vo  Is.  Crown  8z >0.  6s.  each. 


Poetry. 

Edited  by  ERNEST  HARTLEY 
COLERIDGE. 

Vol.  I.  The  Early  Poems  contain- 
ing many  hitherto  unpublished  pieces. 

[Just  out. 

“If  the  succeeding  volumes  are  as  careful 
and  as  thorough  as  the  first,  no  other  edition 
is  likely  to  be  desired  for  many  years  to  come. 
The  work  promises  to  be  in  all  respects  a 
complete  success.” — Times. 

“Mr.  Coleridge  has  performed  a very 
difficult  task  with  both  knowledge  and  judg- 
ment. ’ ’ — Literature. 


Letters. 

Edited  by  ROWLAND  E. 
PROTHERO. 

Vol.  I.  from  1788  to  1811,  containing 
many  hitherto  unpublished  letters. 

[Just  out. 

‘ * The  editor’s  work  has  been  excellently 
performed.  Mr.  Prothero’s  accounts  of  Hob- 
house  and  of  Beckford,  in  particular,  may 
be  cited  as  examples  of  finished  miniature 
biographies.” — Dr.  R.  Garnett  in  the  Book- 
man. 

‘ ‘ We  must  compliment  Mr.  Prothero  on  the 
skill  and  admirable  tact  with  which  he  has 
fulfilled  a delicate  task.” — Saturday  Review. 


N.B.  — The  EDITION  DE  LUXE , crown  \to,  21  s.  net  per  volume,  has  all  been 
disposed  of;  a few  copies  may  remain  in  the  hands  of  some  booksellers. 


20  Mr . Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 


The  Life  of  John  Nicholson, 

SOLDIER  AND  ADMINISTRATOR. 

BASED  ON  PRIVATE  AND  HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED  DOCUMENTS. 
By  Captain  L.  J.  TROTTER. 

Sixth  Edition.  With  Portraits , Maps,  &=c.  Demy  8vo.  i6j. 



Hydrographical  Surveying, 

A DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  MEANS  AND  METHODS  EMPLOYED 
IN  CONSTRUCTING  MARINE  CHARTS. 

By  Rear-Admiral  Sir  "WILLIAM  J.  L.  WHARTON,  K.C.B., 

Hydrographer  to  the  Admiralty. 

Second  Edition,  Revised  Throughout. 

With  Diagrams  and  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  i8t. 


A Flower  Hunter  in  Queensland. 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  WANDERINGS  IN  QUEENSLAND  AND 
IN  NEW  ZEALAND. 

By  Mrs.  ROWAN. 

Second  Impression.  With  Coloured  Plate  and  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo.  14 s. 

“This  book  is  one  that  will  be  laid  down  with  regret,  so  brightly  does  the  authoress  tell  of 
very  varied  scenes  and  experiences.  There  are  few  books  of  travels  in  which  the  fascination  of 
the  tropics  to  a naturalist  is  so  evident.” — Nature. 

++ 

The  Life  and  Letters  of  the 
Rev.  John  Bacchus  Dykes,  m.a., mus.  doc. 

LATE  VICAR  OF  ST.  OSWALD’S,  DURHAM. 

Edited  by  the  Rev.  JOSEPH  T.  FOWLER, 

Vice-Principal  of  Hatfield  Hall,  Durham,  &c. 

With  Portrait.  Crown  8vo.  7 s.  6d. 

“ Will  not  only  be  read  with  interest  by  the  multitude  of  those  who  have  loved  his  many 
hymn  tunes,  which  have  become  almost  inseparable  from  certain  popular  hymns,  but  as  a 
study  of  an  earnest  and  devout  Churchman  it  has  a very  considerable  value.” — Times. 

“ To  say  that  millions  every  Sunday  sing  the  tunes  of  J.  B.  Dykes  is  to  be  beside  the  mark.” 
— Birmingham  Gazette. 


Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 2 1 


Bimetallism. 

A SUMMARY  AND  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ARGUMENTS  FOR 
AND  AGAINST  A BIMETALLIC  SYSTEM  OF  CURRENCY. 

By  MAJOR  LEONARD  DARWIN. 

8vo.  7 s.  6d. 

"The  book  is  the  best  contribution  to  the  currency  controversy  of  reoent  years.  It  may 
be  read  with  advantage  by  the  disputants  on  both  sides.” — Scotsman. 


By  S evern  Sea, 

AND  OTHER  POEMS. 

By  T.  HERBERT  WARREN, 

President  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford. 

Fcap.  4 to.  7 s.  6d.  net. 

" Mr.  Warren’s  beautiful  and  scholarly  verses.” — Spectator. 
“ Marked  by  true  poetic  feeling.” — Literature. 


■ ♦* 

MR.  GLADSTONE’S  LAST  WORK. 


Later  Gleanings : Theological  and 
Ecclesiastical. 


By  the  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  GLADSTONE. 

Second  Edition.  Royal  i6mo.  3^.  6d. 

CONTENTS tThe  Dawn  of  Creation  and  Worship — Proem  to  Genesis 
—Robert  Elsmere  : the  Battle  of  Belief — Ingersoll  on  Christianity — The 
Elizabethan  Settlement— Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  Church  of  England — 
The  Church  under  Henry — Professor  Huxley  and  the  Swine  Miracle— 
The  Place  of  Heresy  and  Schism  — True  and  False  Conceptions  of  the 
Atonement— The  Lord’s  Day — Ancient  Beliefs  in  a Future  State — Solilo- 
quium  and  Postscript  on  the  Pope  and  Anglican  Orders. 


The  Psalter : According 

to  the 

Prayer  Book  Version. 

With  a Concordance  and  other 
Matter. 

Seventh  Thousand. 

Imperial  yimo,  morocco,  5.?.,  roan , 3 s.  6d. 
New  Popular  Edition , is.  net. 


The  Odes  of  Horace 

and  the 

Carmen  Saeculare. 

TRANSLATED  INTO  ENGLISH  VERSE. 

Large  Crown  8vo,  6s. 

Also  New  and  Popular  Edition, 
Fcap.  8 vo,  3J.  6d. 

%*  A few  Copies,  printed  on  best  hand- 
made paper,  rubricated,  at  2 is.  each  net, 
are  still  to  be  had. 


22  Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbours. 

A NARRATIVE  OF  TRAVEL, 

AND  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  RECENT  VICISSITUDES  AND 
PRESENT  POSITION  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

By  Mrs.  BISHOP  (ISABELLA  BIRD), 

F.R.G.S.,  Hon.  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Scottish  Geographical  Society  ; Hon.  Member 
of  the  Oriental  Society  of  Peking,  &c.,  &c. 

With  a Preface  by  Sir  Walter  C.  Hillier,  K.C.M.G.,  late  H.B.M.’s  Consul- 

General  for  Korea. 

With  Maps  and  Illustrations  from,  the  Author's  Photographs.  2 Vols.  Crown  8z to.  24  s. 

“ Mrs.  Bishop  now  comes  to  give  the  public  exactly  what  was  wanted — a book  on  Korea 
and  its  affairs.  Two  excellent  maps  and  a great  number  of  illustrations  add  greatly  to  the 
interest  of  a profoundly  interesting  book.” — Times. 


Ministerial  Priesthood. 

SIX  CHAPTERS  PRELIMINARY  TO  A STUDY  OF  THE  ORDINAL. 

With  an  Enquiry  into  the  Truth  of  Christian  Priesthood  and  an 
Appendix  on  the  recent  Roman  Controversy. 

By  R.  C.  MOBERLY,  D.D., 

Regius  Professor  of  Pastoral  Theology  in  the  University  of  Oxford, 

Canon  of  Christ  Church. 

$vo.  14^. 

“ As  one  of  the  authors  of  ‘ Lux  Mundi,’  Canon  Moberly’s  exposition  is  distinguished  by 
the  high  qualities  which  have  made  the  school  to  which  the  writer  belongs  so  influential  in 
the  Church  of  England." — Manchester  Guardian. 

++ 

The  Student’s  History  of  France 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  THE  FALL  OF  THE 
SECOND  EMPIRE  IN  1870. 

WITH  NOTES  & ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  INSTITUTIONS  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

By  W.  H.  JERVIS,  M.A. 

A New  Edition,  thoroughly  Revised  and  in  great  part  Re-written . 

By  ARTHUR  HASSALL,  Censor  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford. 

With  many  new  Woodcuts  (760 pp.).  Crown  Svo.  *js.  6 d. 

CONTENTS. 

Book  I.— Ancient  Gaul— Revised  by  F.  Haverfield,  Student  of  Ch.  Ch. 
Oxford.  II. — German  Gaul.  III. — France  under  the  Feudal  System — Hugh  Capet — 
Charles  IV.  IV.— Fall  of  Feudalism— Philip  VI.  to  Charles  VIII.  V.— Renaissance 
and  Wars  of  Religion — Louis  XII. — Henri  III.  VI. — The  Absolute  Monarchy— Henri 
IV.  to  The  Revolution.  VII. — Revolutionary  France — To  the  Fall  of  the  Second  Empire. 

“‘The  Student’s  History  of  France’  has  long  been  known  as  a useful  and  trustworthy 
guide,  and  in  all  essential  matters  Mr.  Hassall’s  work  is  thoroughly  careful  and  sound." — 
Guardian. 


Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 23 


Law  and  Politics  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

WITH  A SYNOPTIC  TABLE. 

By  EDWARD  JENKS,  M.A., 

Of  the  Middle  Temple,  Barrister-at-Law  ; Reader  in  English  Law  in  the  University  of  Oxford  ; 

Lecturer  at  Balliol  College  ; formerly  Fellow  of  King’s  College,  Cambridge. 

Demy  8 vo.  12s. 

" By  far  the  most  important  and  original  book  relating  to  jurisprudence  published  for 
some  years  in  England  is  Mr.  Jenks’s  ‘ Law  and  Politics  in  the  Middle  Ages.’  ” — Times. 

“ It  would  be  scant  praise  to  say  that  it  is  readable  and  interesting  ; to  the  reader  who 
cares  at  all  for  the  development  of  ideas,  as  distinguished  from  the  bare  calendar  of  events, 
it  is  brilliant.” — Literature. 


NEW  WORK  BY  THE  REV.  CHARLES  GORE,  D.D. 

An  Exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians. 

By  the  Rev.  CHARLES  GORE,  M.A.,  D.D.  Edin., 

Canon  of  Westminster. 

Eighth  Thousand.  Crown  8z >0.  3*.  6d. 

‘ ‘ A new  work  by  Canon  Gore  is  an  ecclesiastical  event.  The  book  is  a popular  exposition 
in  the  best  sense,  conveying  to  the  simplest  understanding  the  results  of  the  best  modern 
knowledge  of  this  Epistle.  The  general  effect  of  the  book  is  bracing.  . . . Surely  no  one 

can  read  this  book  without  a quickened  desire  to  be  a Christian.” — Guardian. 

“ It  is  a brave  and  earnest  book  straight  from  the  heart  of  an  earnest  and  brave  man.” — 
Independent. 

♦♦ 

WORKS  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount. 

A~  PRACTICAL  EXPLANATION. 
9Th]  Thousand.  Crown  8 vo.  3s,  6d. 


fhe  Mission  of  the 
Church. 

Four  Lectures  delivered  in  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  Asaph. 
Crown  8 vo.  2 s.  6d. 


Dissertations  on 
Subjects  connected  with 
the  Incarnation. 


The  Incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God. 

The  Bampton  Lectures 
for  1891. 

Eighth  Thousand.  81 >0.  7 s.  6d. 


8 vo.  7s.  6d. 


24  Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications. 


The  Life  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Jowett. 

By  EVELYN  ABBOTT,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  and  The  Rev.  LEWIS 
CAMPBELL,  M.A.,  LL.D. 

Third  Edition. 

With  Portraits  and  Illustrations.  2 Vo  Is,  Demy  8 vo.  32*. 


*4 

The  Navy  and  the  Nation. 

By  JAMES  R.  THURSFIELD,  M.A., 

AND 

Lt.-Col.  Sir  GEORGE  SYDENHAM  CLARKE,  R.E.,  K.C.M.G.,  F.R.S. 

With  Maps.  8vo.  14 s. 

**  We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  this  is  the  most  important  book  dealing  with  the 
Navy  that  has  appeared  since  the  publication  in  1890  of  Captain  Mahan’s  epoch-making,  and 
in  every  way  masterly,  work  on  ‘ The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  History.’  ” — Spectator. 

44 

THE  DUKE  OF  ARGYLL’S  WORKS. 


Our  Responsibilities  for  Turkey. 

FACTS  AND  MEMORIES  OF  FORTY  YEARS. 

By  the  DUKE  OF  ARGYLL,  K.G.,  K.T. 

Crown  8vo.  35.  6d. 


The  Philosophy  of 
Belief. 

8vo.  1 6s. 

The  Reign  of  Law. 

Nineteenth  Edition. 

Crown  8 vo.  5j. 

The  Unity  of  Nature. 

Third  Edition. 

8vo.  12s. 


The  Unseen 
Foundations  of  Society. 

8vo.  i8j. 

Irish  Nationalism. 

AN  APPEAL  TO  HISTORY. 
Crown  8 vo.  3$.  6d. 

The  Burdens  of  Belief 

AND  OTHER  POEMS. 

Crown  8vo.  6s. 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 25 


Alice, 

GRAND  DUCHESS  OF  HESSE, 

Princess  of  Great  Britain. 

LETTERS  TO  HER  MAJESTY  THE  QUEEN. 

With  a Memoir  by  H.R.H.  PRINCESS  CHRISTIAN, 

A New  and  Cheaper  Edition,  Revised.  Containing  the  last  letter  written  by 
Princess  Alice.  With  Portrait.  Crown  Svo.  5 s. 


WORKS  BY  THE  LATE  BENJAMIN  JOWETT. 


College  Sermons. 

FOR  THE  MOST  PART  PREACHED 
IN  THE  CHAPEL  OF  BALLIOL 
COLLEGE,  OXFORD. 

Crown  Svo.  Js.  6d. 


The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul 
to  the  Thessalonians, 
Galatians  and  Romans. 

WITH  NOTES  & DISSERTATIONS. 

2 Vols.  Crown  Svo.  7 s.  6d.  net , each 
volume. 


4-4 


Sophocles. 

THE  SEVEN  PLAYS  IN  ENGLISH  VERSE. 

By  the  Rev.  LEWIS  CAMPBELL,  M.A.,  LL.D., 

Emeritus  Professor  of  Greek  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrew’s,  and  Hon.  Fellow  of  Balliol  College 

Oxford. 

New  Edition,  revised.  Crown  Svo.  ioy.  6d. 

44 

Waste  and  Repair  in  Modern  Life. 

A SERIES  OF  ESSAYS  ON  THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  HEALTH  UNDER 
CONDITIONS  WHICH  PREVAIL  AT  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

By  ROBSON  ROOSE,  M.D. 

Crown  Svo.  Js.  6 d. 


26  Mr.  Murray  s List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 


Common  Thoughts  on  Serious  Subjects. 

ADDRESSES  TO  THE  ELDER  STUDENTS  OF  THE 
RAJ  KUMAR  COLLEGE,  KATHIAWAR. 

By  the  late  CHESTER  MACNAGHTEN,  M.A. 

Edited,  with  an  Introductory  Memoir,  by  ROBERT  "WHITELAW, 

Master  at  Rugby  School. 

With  Portrait  and  Illustrations.  Croivn  8vo.  9 s. 


The  Dawn  of  Modern  Geography. 

A HISTORY  OF  TRAVEL  AND  GEOGRAPHICAL  SCIENCE  FROM  THE 
CONVERSION  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  TO  900  A.D. 

By  C.  RAYMOND  BEAZLEY, 

Fellow  of  Merton  College,  Oxford. 

With  reproductions  of  the  principal  Maps  of  the  time.  8vo.  i8j. 

“Mr.  Beazley  has  devoted  to  his  difficult  task  an  amazing  amount  of  diligent  and  pains- 
taking research  . . . and  his  literary  skill  in  condensing  such  a mass  of  material  has 

enabled  him  to  make  a very  interesting  volume.” — Times. 

♦♦ 

Sir  William  Smith’s  Initia  Graeca, 

PART  I. 

A FIRST  GREEK  COURSE,  CONTAINING  ACCIDENCE,  RULES 
OF  SYNTAX,  EXERCISES  AND  VOCABULARIES. 

Edited  and  carefully  revised  throughout  by  FRANCIS  BROOKS,  M.A., 

Lecturer  in  Classics  at  University  College,  Bristol,  and  formerly  Classical  Scholar  of 
Balliol  College,  Oxford. 

Crown  8vo.  3-r.  6d. 

The  Accidence  has  been  made  to  conform  with  modern  ideas  on  the  subject,  as  seen  prin- 
cipally in  the  works  of  Rutherford  and  Sonnenschein. 

In  the  Exercises  poetical  and  non-Attic  forms  have  been  excluded.  The  scope  and 
variety  of  the  sentences  has  been  increased,  and  an  effort  has  been  made  to  provide  such 
words  and  constructions  as  may  seive  as  a basis  for  future  practice  in  Greek  prose  composition. 

The  Rules  of  Syntax  are  a new  feature  in  the  book.  The  Exercises  have  constant  reference 
to  them,  and  the  pupil  is  thus  trained  from  the  beginning  in  idiom  as  well  as  in  grammar. 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 27 


Under  the  Red  Crescent. 

ADVENTURES  AND  EXPERIENCES  OF  AN  ENGLISH 
SURGEON  DURING  THE  SIEGES  OF  PLEVNA 
AND  ERZEROUM,  1877-78. 

Related  by  CHARLES  S.  RYAN,  M.B.,  C.M.  Edin., 

In  Association  with  his  friend,  JOHN  SANDES,  B.A.  Oxon. 

Second  Impression.  With  Portrait  and  Maps . Crown  8vo.  gs. 

“ Altogether  it  is  as  lively  and  fascinating  a narrative  of  a stirring  and  heroic  time  as  any 
one  can  wish  to  possess.  ” — Saturday  Review. 

44 

AN  ILLUSTRATED  BOOK  ON  THE  AFGHAN  FRONTIER  TRIBES. 


Lights  and  Shades  of  Indian  Hill  Life 

IN  THE  AFGHAN  AND  HINDU  HIGHLANDS. 

By  F.  St.  J.  GORE,  B.A.,  Magdalen  College,  Oxford. 

With  72  Full-page  Illustrations  from  Photographs  taken  by  the  Author , Illustrations 
in  the  Text , and  Maps.  Medium  8z >o.  3 it.  6d. 

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must  be  admitted  that  something  beyond  the  mere  text  contributes.  It  is  adorned  with  a 
great  number  of  photographs,  which  are  simply  wonderful  for  their  perspicuity  and  perfection 
of  execution.” — Guardian. 


How  to  Listen  to  Music. 

HINTS  AND  SUGGESTIONS  TO  UNTAUGHT 
LOVERS  OF  THE  ART, 

By  HENRY  EDWARD  KREHBIEL, 

Author  of  “ Studies  in  the  Wagnerian  Drama,”  &c. 

With,  a Preface  by  SIR  GEORGE  GROVE,  C.B. 

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work  of  the  kind  so  sensible  in  its  plan  and  so  admirably  sympathetic  in  detail  as  these  hints 
and  suggestions  to  untaught  lovers  of  the  art.” — Manchester  Guardian. 


28  Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications \ 


Our  Seven  Homes. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  LATE 
MRS.  RUNDLE  CHARLES, 

Author  of  the  “Schonberg  Cotta  Family.” 

Second  Edition.  With  Portraits.  Crown  Svo.  7 s.  6 d. 

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WORKS  BY  DAVID  G.  HOGARTH, 

Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford. 


Philip  and  Alexander 
of  Macedon. 

TWO  ESSAYS  IN  BIOGRAPHY. 
With  Map  and  Illustrations.  Svo.  14J. 


A Wandering  Scholar. 

Second  Edition. 

With  Map  and  Illustrations,  Crown  Svo. 
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The  Story  of  a Great  Agricultural 

Estate. 

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By  the  DUKE  OF  BEDFORD. 

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LIFE  OF  WEDGWOOD. 


CHARACTER.  DUTY. 

MEN  OF  INVENTION  AND  INDUSTRY. 
LIFE  OF  JAMES  NASMYTH. 

BOYS’  VOYAGE  ROUND  THE  WORLD. 
LIFE  OF  JASMIN. 


Mr.  Murray  s List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 29 


Notes  from  a Diary. 

1873—1881. 

By  the  Bight  Hon.  Sir  MOUNTSTTJART  E.  GRANT  DUFF,  G.C.S.I. 

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The  Life  and  Correspondence  of 
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Barr ister-at- Law,  late  Fellow  of  All  Souls’  College,  Oxford. 

Third  Edition.  With  Portraits  and  Illustrations . 2 Vols.  8 vo.  32J. 


BY  THE  SAME  EDITOR. 

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8 vo.  1 6s. 


30  Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications . 


A Manual  of  Naval  Architecture. 

FOR  THE  USE  OF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  NAVY,  THE 
MERCANTILE  MARINE,  SHIP-OWNERS,  SHIP-BUILDERS, 
AND  YACHTSMEN. 

By  Sir  W.  H.  WHITE,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S., 

Assistant-Controller  and  Director  of  Naval  Construction,  Royal  Navy;  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Societies 
of  London  and  Edinburgh ; Vice-President  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects ; Member  of  the 
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A NEW  BOOK  ON  A NEW  PRINCIPLE. 

French  Stumbling  Blocks  and  English 
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By  FRANCIS  TARVER,  M.A., 

Late  Senior  French  Master  at  Eton  College. 

Fcap . 8 vo.  2 s.  6d. 

This  work,  based  on  thirty  years’  experience  of  teaching  French  to  English  boys,  dees  not 
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Mr.  Murray's  List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications.  31 


Herodotus. 

THE  TEXT  OF  CANON  RAWLINSON’S  TRANSLATION. 

WITH  THE  NOTES  ABRIDGED  FOR  THE  USE  OF  STUDENTS. 

By  A.  J.  GRANT,  M.A., 

Of  King’s  Coll.,  Cambridge  ; Professor  of  History,  Yorkshire  Coll.,  Leeds. 

Author  of  “ Greece  in  the  Age  of  Pericles.” 

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A FAIRY  TALE  FOR  CHILDREN  AND  YOUNG  READERS. 
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With  Illustrations.  Svo.  10s.  6d. 

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44 

The  Japanese  Alps. 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  CLIMBING  AND  EXPLORATION  IN  THE 
UNFAMILIAR  MOUNTAIN  REGIONS  OF 
CENTRAL  JAPAN. 

By  the  Rev.  WALTER  WESTON,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 

Member  of  the  Alpine  Club;  late  British  Chaplain,  Kobe,  Japan. 

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“ The  best  book  of  travel  I have  seen  for  many  a long  day  is  Mr.  Weston’s  account  of  his 
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44 

AN  INDISPENSABLE  POCKET  BOOK  FOR  TRAVELLERS. 

Handbook  of  Travel  Talk. 

COLLOQUIAL  DIALOGUES  AND  VOCABULARIES  IN  ENGLISH, 
FRENCH,  GERMAN,  AND  ITALIAN.  SET  UP  IN 
PARALLEL  COLUMNS. 

A New  Edition,  Thoroughly  Revised,  Extended,  and  in  Great  Part 
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On  Thin  Paper.  Sm.  Fcap.  Svo.  2s'  6*/. 

“ The  best  of  its  kind.” — Athenceum. 

" Comes  in  a new  form  with  many  improvements.  - Guardian. 

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Mr.  Murray  s List  of  New  and  Recent  Publications. 


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Beazley,  (Sir)  Charles  Raymor 

The  dawn  of  modern  ge6grapfc 
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